2008-2009 Economic Crisis and the Policies Implemented - Research Paper Example

? 2008-2009 Economic Crisis 2008-2009 Economic Crisis Introduction In economics, a recession refers to a business cycle reduction.It refers to a general retardation of economic activities (Simon, 2001). Macroeconomic pointers like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), investment spending, employment, capacity utilization, household income, inflation and business profits fall. This happens while unemployment and bankruptcies rates go up (Andrews, 2009). Recessions crop up when there is a general drop in expenditure. It follows the rising of an economic bubble or an unpredictable supply shock. Governments respond to recessions through implementing expansionary macroeconomic strategies. They tend to raise the government’s expenditure, increase the money supply and lessen the amount of tax paid by the citizens (Andrews, 2009). In 2007, a global financial predicament rapidly metamorphosed from the satiation of the assets bubble in the United States to the most horrible recession ever witnessed on the planet. This paper will research on the causes of the 2008-2009 economic predicament and the policies executed by various key people liable for saving the U.S. economy. It will also explain the task, constitutional authority, and the policy view of some current holders of key positions that set policies for saving the U.S. economy. In 2007, a worldwide economic predicament spread its gloom on the financial outcomes of several nations (Simon, 2001). It ended with what was often termed as the worst recession (Simon, 2001). Its source that originated from the sub-prime segment of the United State real estate field as an isolated turmoil matured into a complete recession in 2007. The old well-known fact that the whole world sneezes when the United States seizes flu seemed to be justified (Baker, 2007). This is because vital economies like Japan and nations in the European Union also went into recession in mid 2008. Generally, 2009 became the first year since the 2nd WW that the world had experienced a recession, a catastrophic over turn of the boom years from 2002 to 2007. The predicament came mainly as a shock to most policymakers, economists, investors and multilateral agencies. The day before the eruption of the economic disaster, Jean Philippe of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) declared that for the OECD region all together, development is set to go past its potential rate for the rest of 2007 plus 2008. This was held up by optimism in rising market economies and positive financial settings. Following the worldwide recession of 2008 and 2009, the economics line of work has come under a huge deal of disapproval from leading scholars. Economists offer a strong analysis of the economics line of work. They dispute that both implicit and explicit intellectual conspiracies make it hard for the leading members of the job to promote a genuine discussion derived from alternative perspectives (Baker, 2007). These leading members were always allied with selected American universities. The outcome was that a rather restricted intellectual discussion occurred between like-minded scholars. Hence, it does not astonish that, for a great deal of 2008, the harshness of this global recession was underrated. Afterward, leading interpreters, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, made several changes to its growth forecasts during 2008 and 2009 as the degree of the crisis developed (Baker, 2007). Causes of the 2008-2009 Economic Crisis There were numerous revealing factors that should have set off alarm bells warning of an upcoming economic recession. A huge majority of officials, academics and financiers, overlooked the signals and instead made plentiful claims about a fresh period. There existed a universal excitement regarding the conditions of the worldwide economy and with a lot of critics saying that time was different. As disputed by this research, there exists, however, numerous connections between the banking crises and previous US sub-prime disaster such as the huge surge in equity and housing prices. Also the mounting current account insufficiency and increasing level of individuals’ debts were factors of recession (Andrews, 2009). At the same time, the disclosure of investors and lenders was made difficult by the extraordinary level of securitization of mortgages. This was through a guarantee debt requirement which created significant doubt in financial markets as the predicament spread-out. This resulted in an abrupt turnaround of viewing of risk, from risk seeking to risk dislike. The bases of the predicament have become, reasonably, a key matter of discussion between both policymakers and academics. The discussion circulating this topic has paid attention to the role of market collapse in precipitating the predicament. Namely the disastrous performance of the financial market that was in harsh disparity to the hypothetical proposition was proficient. That is prices in the bond and stock markets immediately and exactly reflect all accessible information at that moment. This puts one of the main beliefs of capitalism into inquiry (Andrews, 2009). Many contributions to the continuing investigation of the predicament puts out that failure of government has had a key role in permitting banks plus other financial bodies to benefit from on loop-holes in the authoritarian system to raise returns and leverage. Critics say, in terms of government policy, that the extremely loose Unite State monetary policy brought about the credit boom. Critics also say that interest tariffs were not on the lesser side. In addition to these opinions, the discussion has taken into account both the involvement of domestic matters, US financial laws and monetary procedures, and worldwide inequity. This worldwide inequity refers to the excess of savings flowing from well-off economies to deficit economies. Generally, drawing from a broad evaluation of crisis-related research, four main, but interconnected, factors can be recognized. They include global imbalances, interest rates, regulation of the financial system and perceptions of risks. As argued by many critics, the property bubble was a leading reason, if not the only reason, of the sub-prime predicament and of the wider financial crisis. However, as a result of the fast boost in securitization of mortgage bonds, that was no ordinary property bubble. So far it was not only home lenders that were uncovered to the steadiness of the United States real estate market but financiers all across the globe. Responsibility, constitutional authority, and the policy opinion of the some holders of the key positions that crafted policies for repairing the U.S. economy Under president’s Barrack Obama's leadership, the United States has encountered the greatest deficit that has ever occurred. It also experienced a credit demoting from the rating bureau of standard and poor. Nonetheless, during the Obama’s reign the national deficit went up at a much lower rate than in the former president’s Bush reign. Most critics attribute the deficits to rising profits and welfare settled out on account of the recession he inherited and has not succeed to end along with lessening tax receipts. Under US president Barrack Obama’s management, $787 billion incentive package can be summarized in one clear statement. If the incentive functions to bring out the U.S. economy out of its sharp 2008-2009 recession, and eases the unemployment levels, then it will be arbitrated as an accomplishment. The president has also irreverently separated the nation on class lines (Baker, 2007). President Obama has taken to playing the populist card over and over again. He thumps Wall Street and insurance companies at any time convenient to progress his programs (Baker, 2007). He also has been keen to recognize campaign contributions and consult with these very same corporations and banks in secrecy so as to progress his political plan. President Obama's disruptive approach to ruling has destabilized the Americans as a people and paralyzed their political ethnicity (Simon, 2001). The aching, relevant question was, was it politically achievable for President Obama to push Congress into accepting an economic incentive law in 2009 or 2010? The leading incentive law passed on a house ballot of 244-188, eleven Democrats and all Republicans voted no. The bill squeezed by a filibuster-proof 61-36 Senate vote, but only after making important conciliations to draw three Republican yes votes. Every Senate Democrats supported the bill, apart from those not present because of ill health. This was the role played by the American Congress in the 2008-2009 economic crises. With public assurance dropping in Obama's reign in mid 2009 on economic issues, plus with the leading incentive bill failing to control unemployment, moderate democrats could not be relied on to firmly hold additional incentive legislation (Bezemer, 2009). The question at hand was whether the congress would make into law a second incentive package in 2009 or 2010. The Secretary of the Treasury is an affiliate of the presidential cabinet. This individual refers to the acting leader of the Ministry of Treasury, and is concerned with all monetary and financial subjects directly involving the government. This person is the chief economic advisor of the head of state. He has a leading role in preparing economic guidelines of a country. The secretary of the Treasury during the 2008-2009 recessions was famous for having been given the work despite not having settled tens of thousands of his taxes. This created the sarcasm that in his new role, he manages the Internal Revenue Service but cannot settle his own debts. The secretary was formerly head of the Bank of Federal Reserve in New York. One of his duties as the secretary of Treasury was dictating how the outstanding $350 billion of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds would be shared. Other sophisticated tasks included supporting or not the rescue of the American automobile manufacturing. It also included the reorganization of banks, insurance companies and financial institutions. His major role in the recession was to assist in recovering of the mortgage market plus relations with foreign governments that are concerned with similar predicaments. The secretary of Treasury was also responsible for advising the American president to adapt the incentive bill into law. Critique of the policies implemented If people could summarize the cause of the 2008-2009 economic crises, in one word, it would amount to greed. Over the years, credit lenders were contented to loan money to individuals who could not pay for their mortgages. Credit lenders did that for the reason that there was nothing to lose. These creditors were clever to put out higher interest tariffs and create more funds on sub-prime mortgages. If the borrowers failed to pay, they apprehended the house and put it to the marketplace (Andrews, 2009). On top of that, they passed the risk on to credit insurers and packages of these mortgages as credit-backed securities. That was easy money. Critics did not like the plan of government bailout. This was with the reasoning that the government was using the peoples’ funds to aid out hungry bankers. Unfortunately, that was the only choice people had right then. They only hoped that those hungry lenders would not leave scot-free. They made a lot of funds that led to the recession and they should cater for their greediness, at least the government should force them to pay up. In the critics’ opinion, the government should force conversion of poor mortgages into three decades set rate mortgages. The interest rate on these transformed loans should be higher than usual. In this manner, it would be more affordable to many borrowers plus creating a lesser default rate. The creditors will make less cash, but in the critics view, they already made excess money. The borrowers are not totally innocent either that is why they ought to pay a little more, as well (Burtless, 2009). Conclusion Though there have been a number of negotiations concerning the risk of a double-dip recession, the incentive packages have had in great economic expansion. Most interpreters, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are not forecasting a return to an unenthusiastic global figure. However, the risk of a further weakening was still present and development was not expected to go on as strongly in 2010 as observed in the last half of 2009. Europe seemed to be at larger risk of a double-dip than the United States. Hence, an early removal of the incentives would endanger the promising recovery and may perhaps drive economies back into recession. This would further prolong the effects of the predicament for a couple of years to come, mostly on labor market and social fields. This work can assist in locating priorities and revealing good practices. These practices include the field of assessment and co-ordination of planned events and enlarged global co-operation. It can also assist in discussions of ways to settle necessary short-term incentive measures and tactics of promoting long-term economic and sustainable development. References Andrews, L. (2009). ‘Doubts about Obama’s economic recovery plan rise along with unemployment’. New York Times, July 6th. Baker, G. (2007). ‘Welcome to the Great Moderation’, The Times, January 19th. Bezemer, D. (2009). ‘‘No One Saw This Coming’: Understanding Financial Crisis through Accounting Models’, Groningen: Groningen University Press, June 16. Burtless, G. (2009). Faulty Economic Forecasts or Faulty Policy Evaluation? The Difference is Important. Washington: Brookings Press, July 20. Simon, J. (2001). The long and large decline in U.S. output volatility’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Vol. 1, pp. 135-164. Read More