Causes of the Recession

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

During 1997-2006, house prices rose 85 percent. This led to an irresponsible consumer spending spree. Millions of people bought a house that they could not afford. Government regulatory agencies and mortgage lenders became less strict with credit restrictions so that people could buy homes without making any down payment. In 2007, however, the home values and sales began to decline. Due to the loss of trillions of dollars in home value, a record number of borrowers defaulted on their mortgage payments. America was put into a recession in 2008 because of the contraction of corporate spending and consumer purchased. The prices of consumer goods spiked, while employment declined. On October 3, 2008, former President Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program; however, the bill did not restore the economy as a whole. By June 2009, America's economic recovery was at its weakest since the end of the Second World War. I chose this event in history because it had a major effect on America’s economy and changed the course of history. Historians need to study the Great Recession because America should learn from their mistakes. The Great Recession was due to different factors; however, if the regulations on credit restrictions were not tampered with, then the severity of the recession could have been

Today the United States Americans more than ever; there is a constant fear of an awaiting recession due to the economy. The recession in the later 2000’s has been known as the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression. The United States of America, the banks and businesses are not able to succeed and are failing due to the market. Many people across America cannot afford their homes or bills due to the unemployment rate that seems to keep increasing. Many people blame this on the higher oil or gas prices, and the wars that the United States acts on. The recession has overall declined our economic activity in business profits, employment, and investment. This is all due to our falling market, and the rise of prices that so many Americans cannot afford.

The recession of 2008 is also called the ‘Great Recession’, said to have begun in December 2007, and took a turn for the worse in September 2008, and it was a severe economic problem expanded globally. This recession affected the world economy, and is said to have been the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. The decline in the Dow Jones this time was -53.8%. Since the official start of the recession in December 2007, and through June 2010 there have been about 2.3 million homes foreclosed in the United States. In 2012, the state with the most foreclosures in January alone was California, with 51,584 houses being repossessed. Unemployment during this collapse was 8.5%, and continued to increase to about 10% as of 2010. People’s reaction to this recession was a huge decrease in spending and borrowing from banks, but an increase in saving.

Problems for home owners with good credit surfaced in mid-2007, causing the U.S.'s largest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial, to warn that a recovery in the housing sector was not expected to occur at least until 2009 because home prices were falling "almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression." Most economists agree that the primary cause of the current recession was the credit crisis arising from the bursting of the housing bubble. Why did the housing bubble occur and why did its bursting cause such a severe and widespread recession?

The major causes of the Recession and the Great Depression were the actions of the federal government. Before the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low in the 1920s and raised interest rates in the early 1930’s. President Hoover’s regulations damaged trade and American exports throughout the 1930s. Finally, the President signed a large tax increase into law in 1932, which hurt businesses and affected everyone.

Examine the causes of the Great Depression of the 1930s and consider what similarities and differences can be drawn with the problems from the financial and economic crisis which began in 2008.

Recently, the U.S. and world economy experienced a global economic recession in 2008 that was considered by some to be the worst economic crisis to plague the U.S., and ultimately the rest of the world, since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This global economic recession is popularly thought to be a result of the housing bubble crash in the U.S. as a result of risky

The recession of 2008, better known as the Great recession has been America’s worst economic downfall since the Great Depression. Although it was here in America that economic issues began spiraling out of control, the economic crisis made its way to some of the strongest economic countries in other parts of the world. Due to the housing bubble burst, the subprime mortgage crisis, and stock market crash, we are in a total debt of “$18,152,064,358,208 including federal, state, and local.” (Get Involved)

The “Great Recession of 2008" hit The United States and the rest of the world with a force not seen since the Great Depression less than a century ago. December of 2007 saw an unemployment rate of 5.7% as the economy was rolling forward on the back of the high-profiled housing market funded by aggressive loans to consumers with sub-par credit. (National Bureau of Economic Research) This created a proverbial “House of Cards” that fell apart that same month and over the course of two years; the unemployment rate would nearly double as The United States would lose over 8 million jobs according the National Bureau of Economics. The cause of The Great Recession can’t simply be quantified to just one person, agency or company. However, in the broad

During 2007 through 2010 there existed what we commonly refer to as the subprime mortgage crisis. Through deduction of readings by those considered esteemed in the realm of finance - such as Ben Bernanke - the crisis arose out of an earlier expansion of mortgage credit. This included extending mortgages to borrowers who previously would have had difficulty getting mortgages; this both contributed to and was facilitated by rapidly rising home prices. Pre-subprime mortgages, those looking to buy homes found it difficult to obtain mortgages if they had below average credit histories, provided small down payments or sought high-payment loans without the collateral, income, and/or credit history to match with their mortgage request. Indeed some high-risk families could obtain small-sized mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), otherwise, those facing limited credit options, rented. Because of these processes, home ownership fluctuated around 65 percent, mortgage foreclosure rates were low, and home construction and house prices mainly reflected swings in mortgage interest rates and income.

I believe the the Great Recession of 2008 was the fault of the Government. The Government did not not properly regulate and had relaxed rules. The made many assumptions also. For example, the just assumed that the British would help them. Because of the way the Government is made the were not able to make changes fast enough. Like it said in the video our class watched,”Congress can not flush a toilet in a day”. I do not believe that you can blame the investment banks or the people. The were just doing what the rules allowed them to do. It is basic human nature. It is the Government's fault for allowing lenient laws. Also, the Government's job is to make sure that everything in the U.S. is going alright. It clearly wasn’t and the Government

The Great Recession of 2008 was the most devastating recession since the Great Depression itself. To further investigate what caused this, we interviewed our mother Marianne Massinger. She has worked in the finance industry for many years now, and she was able to witness and experience the effects of the recession personally. Overall, the information found through our research on the Recession of 2008 closely lined up with the accounts given by our mother.

Between 2004 and 2006, the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates from 1% and capping out at to 5.25%. Even with interest rates on the rise, the housing bubble continued to grow. Why did the bubble continue to grow when typically interest rates increase homeownerships typically declines as well? Economists look at the lending practices before and after the bubble. Prior to the bubble standard typically included, “documentation of credit histories of prospective borrowers, their current income and assets, evidence of job stability and pay, and related factors that in theory help a lender assess a potential borrower’s ability to pay for a mortgage.” During the 2000’s lending practices eased with the government continuing to push their policy on continuing to grow homeownership numbers. To continue homeownership lenders developed new innovative loans such as, “piggy back loans (80/20), adjustable rate mortgages, stated income loans, negative amortization mortgages, and multi-layered risked.” These loans gave homeowners many options as with piggy back loans, allowed consumers to purchase a home without having to put down a down payment, however they would have a first and second mortgage. Many consumers also opted for adjustable rate mortgages such as interest only loans. These loans allowed the consumer to purchase a home that would most likely be out of their monetary range, with

There are many factors that led to recession in 2008, and there are many lessons to be learned to prevent another catastrophe. The loaners, credit agencies, and banks are at fault for the crisis, but the public has some fault too. Each year millions of americans are born into our country, and we preach this dream of success to them. Success is a good dream to have, but people must learn to live within their means. Success is not guaranteed, it takes work and time, and you shouldn’t buy the bigger house just because you are able