(NYT) Eduardo Porter–The Great Recession’s True Cost Is Still Being Tallied

More than five years later, there is still no answer to perhaps the most critical question raised by the man-made disaster: How much did it all cost?

In July, three economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Tyler Atkinson, David Luttrell and Harvey Rosenblum, gave it a shot, at least as far as the United States economy goes.

…their examination offers a panoramic view of the variety of ways in which the financial crisis diminished the nation’s standard of living. At a bare minimum the crisis cost nearly $20,000 for each American. Adding in broader impacts on workers’ well-being ”” an admittedly speculative exercise ”” could raise the price tag to as much as $120,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. With this kind of money we could pay back the federal debt or pay for a top-notch college education for everyone.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Anthropology, Children, Consumer/consumer spending, Corporations/Corporate Life, Economy, Ethics / Moral Theology, Federal Reserve, History, Housing/Real Estate Market, Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market, Marriage & Family, Personal Finance, Politics in General, Poverty, Psychology, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--, The National Deficit, The U.S. Government, Theology

5 comments on “(NYT) Eduardo Porter–The Great Recession’s True Cost Is Still Being Tallied

  1. Capt. Father Warren says:

    The link does not work for me, but that is okay, because whatever the cost, it was unnecessary. Bad government policies [houses for everyone] coupled with poor regulatory oversight of the bad policies [Fannie & Freddie] combined with fraud at Fannie & Freddie [huge bonuses linked to bad policy] mixed in with old-fashioned greed [everyone else is doing it] led to a housing bubble designed to burst.

    And it did, in spectacular fashion. Sadly we never learned from the Savings & Loan scandals, the low quality mortgage scandals: and we will probably repeat this one with the stock market in the near future.

  2. David Keller says:

    #1-And then Obama fixed it by borrowing $6 Trillion. That worked so well that the REAL unemployment rate in in excess of 14% and more people are below the “poverty” line now than in the last 50 years. Most of the jobs created have been part time, low end jobs because of Obamacare, which is such a good deal Obama and Congress have exempted themselves and all their friends from it. The debt accumulated for every child born in America since January 20, 2009 exceeds $1.1 Million per child. I could go on, but…

  3. Paul PA says:

    I think he lost it in the first sentence by saying how much did it cost is the most critical question. It would seem that most people – and at a minimum a good part of our “leadership” – don’t even rate this as a question let alone a critical one. This is probably why the “solutions” have us increasing the “cost”.

  4. Jim the Puritan says:

    The “Great Recession” never ended. It turned into a Depression, exacerbated by bad government policies and now masked by the government spending ever more money that does not actually exist. The house of cards can only be held up for so long.