2008 economic crisis

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The 2007–8 economic crisis and recession, also known as the 2008 financial crisis or the Great Recession, was a global crisis of capitalism in which a financial crash and economic bubble triggered a long-term economic recession.

Bourgeois economists, from the heads of the Bank of England[1] to Fed chairs Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke,[2] overwhelmingly failed to predict the recession.[3] Several Marxist economists,[instances needed] however, such as Michael Roberts and Michael Hudson, were able to predict it to within a year.[4] While most Marxists, including Roberts,[4][5] Duménil & Lévy,[4] and Costas Lapavitsas,[4][citation needed] stress that the root cause lay in contradictions in neoliberal capitalism which continue to exist up to the present, bourgeois authors tend to overemphasize the role of financial factors, especially the housing market bubble and the buildup of predatory loans, rather than implicating structural, long-term issues. This perspective popularized the use of the term "black swan event" – a conjuncture which is totally unforeseeable and cannot be analyzed in a normal manner – to refer to the crash.[2][6][7][8] Another such "freak event", the COVID crisis, would happen just twelve years later, although it too had already been predicted by Roberts[9][10] and countless other heterodox economists.[citation needed][instances needed]

The work of Karl Marx, including Capital, surged in popularity following the events of 2008.[11][12] The Occupy movement was a direct result of the bank bailouts and subsequent depression, and several indicators, such as wage rates and industrial production levels, show that the global economy still has yet to recover.

See also

References

  1. Stewart, Heather (2009-07-25). "This is how we let the credit crunch happen, Ma'am ..." the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "How the official strategists were in denial". Michael Roberts Blog. 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  3. "Why economic models have never been able to predict a downturn - Letter". the Guardian. 2022-08-12. Archived from the original on 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "The crisis of neoliberalism and Gerard Dumenil". Michael Roberts Blog. 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  5. "Returning to the long view". Michael Roberts Blog. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2023-05-09. See also his work The Long Depression.
  6. "Black swan event - Definition, History, Examples, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  7. "Black Swan in the Stock Market: What Is It, With Examples and History". Investopedia. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  8. Institute, Corporate Finance (2023-03-31). "Black Swan Event". Corporate Finance Institute. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  9. "Michael Roberts on the next recession". Michael Roberts Blog. 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  10. "Stock market crash: 1987, 2007 or 1937?". Michael Roberts Blog. 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2023-05-09. Second, this time any slump will not be triggered by a housing bust or a banking crash, but by a crunch in the non-financial corporate sector.
  11. Booklovers turn to Karl Marx as financial crisis bites in Germany
  12. Das Kapital sales shoot up amid financial crisis