Forum Post: How did Glass-Steagall cause the 2007-8 Housing crash?
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 12, 2011, 10 a.m. EST by theaveng
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Even if G-S still existed, I don't see how that would have stopped banks from issuing mortgages to people too poor to pay them back. We would still have a housing bubble built on subprime loans, and the subsequent crash n 2007-8 when those loans were defaulted upon
Why Glass-Steagall Didn't Matter
VIDEO 1 - http://youtu.be/w0ycz2gGkTs
VIDEO 2 - Former Clinton administration's Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig Says Repeal of Glass-Steagall Didn't Cause Crisis - http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1218118/ludwig_says_repeal_of_glass_steagall_didn_t_cause_crisis_video
We would have had a crash with or without subprime. Foreclosures weren't just up on subprime loans. They were up across the lower 3/4 or so of the board. Along with record high consumer debt.
Subprime did artificially inflate the market. No doubt about that. But the middle class have been losing free and clear assets gradually for 30 years. They have been relying more and more on credit in order to compensate for a rising cost of living. Sure, we have been foolish as a society. Buying too much overpriced crap. But the key expenses have skyrocketed.
Energy, healthcare, finance, food, housing, and higher education. All way up. Much higher than core inflation. The record high profits went almost entirely to the richest one percent. They still are. Its very much like a game of Monopoly.
We were in big trouble with or without subprime.
Hence a crash when the bubble burst. Just like when the dot-com bubble burst in 1999-2000.
And you're right about the credit.
The average debt is now $110,000 per home (plus another $180,000/home of governmment debt).