Americans respected the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington D.C. with silence, reverence, retrospection.
Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world as we knew it, sending America into
two wars and persisting violence.
Three years ago today, on Sept. 15, 2008, the world as we knew it also transformed momentously, touching each of our lives to this day. On Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy papers with a Manhattan court. The impact of that otherwise quiet legal step shocked the world’s financial markets. And here’s what happened:
• Short-term credit markets seized, following the announcement by Reserve Primary that it would pay its clients less than a dollar for every dollar they had invested in the money market fund.
• Major financial firms teetered, prompting then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to demand Congress approve the largest expenditure in world history to bail them out.
• Within five years, five million home owners faced foreclosure.
• Housing prices tumbled, erasing $6 trillion in that wealth Americans counted on.
• Faced with mortgage debt on newly devalued homes, consumers began to cut spending.
• Faced with a drop in consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of the American economy, businesses struggled and began to lay off employees.
• The nation suffered 22 straight months of job loss.
• Three years later, unemployment remains above 9 percent.
• Debt from the bailout combined with reduced tax revenue from the bank-caused recession led to the dysfunctional debate in Washington over the debt limit and the degradation of U.S. Treasuries by rating agencies.
• Nearly 50 million Americans now live under the poverty line, or about 15 percent of the population – the largest level in two decades.
• American Banks remain fragile. Since March, the value of Bank of America dropped by half.
• European banks also struggle. Earlier this week, the three largest French banks lost nearly 10 percent of their value each.
Three years ago today, on Sept. 15, 2008, the world as we knew it also transformed momentously, touching each of our lives to this day. On Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy papers with a Manhattan court. The impact of that otherwise quiet legal step shocked the world’s financial markets. And here’s what happened:
• Short-term credit markets seized, following the announcement by Reserve Primary that it would pay its clients less than a dollar for every dollar they had invested in the money market fund.
• Major financial firms teetered, prompting then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to demand Congress approve the largest expenditure in world history to bail them out.
• Within five years, five million home owners faced foreclosure.
• Housing prices tumbled, erasing $6 trillion in that wealth Americans counted on.
• Faced with mortgage debt on newly devalued homes, consumers began to cut spending.
• Faced with a drop in consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of the American economy, businesses struggled and began to lay off employees.
• The nation suffered 22 straight months of job loss.
• Three years later, unemployment remains above 9 percent.
• Debt from the bailout combined with reduced tax revenue from the bank-caused recession led to the dysfunctional debate in Washington over the debt limit and the degradation of U.S. Treasuries by rating agencies.
• Nearly 50 million Americans now live under the poverty line, or about 15 percent of the population – the largest level in two decades.
• American Banks remain fragile. Since March, the value of Bank of America dropped by half.
• European banks also struggle. Earlier this week, the three largest French banks lost nearly 10 percent of their value each.
http://www.citizenvox.org/2011/09/15/lehman-brothers-bankruptcy/
