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The people angry about the 2008 bailout usually have little interest in the facts. I’ve had countless conversations where I’ve tried to tell people that the bai

The people angry about the 2008 bailout usually have little interest in the facts. I’ve had countless conversations where I’ve tried to tell people that the bailouts were a net positive or that people were, in fact, sent to jail. Outside of people familiar with finance, most people refuse to believe it. A lot of people I’ve talked to about it weren’t even adults when the bailout happened. They weren’t watching the news and didn’t care at the time. They only know it through pop culture and from fiery speeches from politicians and influencers. The idea of a bailout has become synonymous with the government handing hard-earned tax dollars over to banks, no strings attached. The facts don’t really matter.

boxed 9mo ago
Even more fun: people are mad about the bailout here in Sweden. But none of the Swedish banks took any bailouts! Not a single one.
- stefanfisk 9mo ago
  I can’t really remember hearing a Swede complain about bank bailouts in relation to the 2008 crisis. The 90s crisis and related bailouts are however often referenced when complaining about the banks making huge profits these days. Whether that’s reasonable or not is another question.
momoschili 9mo ago
None of the highest up were sent to jail. CEOs perfectly fine taking responsibility for the profits, but what happened to taking responsibility for the fraud they enabled?
- bandrami 9mo ago
  Literally dozens of CEOs went to jail, which is again why I think this may be the biggest ball-drop of the media this century (and there have been some pretty huge ones competing with it)
  - momoschili 9mo ago
    yet you have failed to provide even a single name as of yet. It's easily google-able that all of the major players got off scott-free.
    - bandrami 9mo ago
      There was an entire damn database put out by TARP of the hundreds of people they jailed before DOGE killed it. All you people who claim you care about this intently never even bothered to read it. Which is why I don't actually think people cared; they just want an excuse to be mad.
      - elliotec 9mo ago
        Where is this database? Say names. Literally even one. Who are the dozens of CEOs? Why would you make something like this up and spread misinformation? It's been 18 years, even if someone had big stake in the game I can't understand why they would lie about this so steadfastly. Look it up.
        bandrami 9mo ago
        I literally said "DOGE took it down" FFS it's like talking to goldfish whenever this particular topic comes up
        DoctorOetker 9mo ago
        is it on the internet archive?
    - bandrami 9mo ago
      I didn't really expect people to lose the ability to Google this quickly: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38536-failed-bank-ceo-g https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38536-failed-bank-ceo-g... https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-president-and-ceo- https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-president-and-ceo-... https://oig.federalreserve.gov/releases/news-bekkedam-senten https://oig.federalreserve.gov/releases/news-bekkedam-senten... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/09/02/b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/09/02/b...
coryrc 9mo ago
2008 was caused, in part, by the governments deciding many "banks" were "too big to fail". The fix was for the government to pick some winners, coercively lend them money and force them to buy the failing banks. Now we have fewer, bigger banks. People who were conservative with money, saved instead of over-leveraging, did not get to buy assets cheaply, because the government propped up asset prices with unlimited, cheap money. And TARP did eventually produce weak positive returns. So I'm glad they didn't lose money, but I'm not happy I was prevented from buying fire sale assets. I'm also not happy residential housing prices are 2x what they were in 2010 (and still well over 1.5x the peak of the bubble).
- throw0101c 9mo ago
  > 2008 was caused, in part, by the governments deciding many "banks" were "too big to fail". Perhaps worth noting that Ben Bernanke, who was the chair of the Fed at the time, was/is one of the most top experts on Great Depression (it's the work he later won the Nobel Prize for). So as bad as the GFC was, Bernanke thought it could get really bad and pushed for measures that he probably thought would prevent another 1930s scenario.
  - coryrc 9mo ago
    So, the NPE isn't a real Nobel Prize :) but if the only allowable decisions are to concentrate wealth at the top, then we're just delaying and amplifying the collapse.
- pjc50 9mo ago
  > I'm not happy I was prevented from buying fire sale assets People who want a society-wide crisis so they can profit off it are far more morally reprehensible than people who said "we'll loosen the mortgage criteria a bit so people can buy houses, houses always go up in value right?"
  - coryrc 9mo ago
    Uh, no, we're having a generational crisis because wages are flat and rent cost has been growing for decades. That's quite reprehensible. Unfortunately, in our push for home ownership, we now have a majority of people being homeowners and opposed to lowering prices, and a few companies who can make a profit lobbying to ensure prices only go up.
api 9mo ago
Most of the anger from regular folk comes from the reinflation of the housing bubble, continuing to price two generations out of home ownership. If you want to see why people are mad look at what is actually causing them pain. For young people it’s mostly housing costs. Many blame the bailouts. That may be wrong, but it’s a visible scapegoat.
- sdellis 9mo ago
  Anger also comes from many retirees whose retirement savings tanked. Everyday people lost a lot of money, many their homes, and no one bailed them out. It appears to many that those responsible were above the law. It's the same reason people are furious about the Epstein Files, where the only person in jail for what happened is a woman. We see our neighbors dragged out of their houses or cars without a warrant because they don't look "white" and may have committed the misdemeanor of not having proper documentation. And yet, not a single CEO was held accountable for far worse crimes committed -- in fact, they kept their bonuses! These people recklessly inflicted a huge amount of pain on the public, through lost investments, millions of people losing their homes, most young people not being able to buy homes, and creating an even greater divide between the 1% and the rest of us. It is truly weird to read comments that seem to defend them.
snapcaster 9mo ago
Who got access to credit and who was left to go bankrupt and have their lives destroyed? seriously crazy that you can't understand that
BobbyTables2 9mo ago
I was an adult and my anger is in the sense that banks and car companies got a safety net while the rest of us don’t! Think of all the small businesses that would love to take particular risks if they knew they wouldn’t have to suffer the normal consequences associated with failure…

boxed 9mo ago

Even more fun: people are mad about the bailout here in Sweden. But none of the Swedish banks took any bailouts! Not a single one.

stefanfisk 9mo ago
I can’t really remember hearing a Swede complain about bank bailouts in relation to the 2008 crisis. The 90s crisis and related bailouts are however often referenced when complaining about the banks making huge profits these days. Whether that’s reasonable or not is another question.

momoschili 9mo ago

None of the highest up were sent to jail. CEOs perfectly fine taking responsibility for the profits, but what happened to taking responsibility for the fraud they enabled?

bandrami 9mo ago
Literally dozens of CEOs went to jail, which is again why I think this may be the biggest ball-drop of the media this century (and there have been some pretty huge ones competing with it)
- momoschili 9mo ago
  yet you have failed to provide even a single name as of yet. It's easily google-able that all of the major players got off scott-free.
  - bandrami 9mo ago
    There was an entire damn database put out by TARP of the hundreds of people they jailed before DOGE killed it. All you people who claim you care about this intently never even bothered to read it. Which is why I don't actually think people cared; they just want an excuse to be mad.
    - elliotec 9mo ago
      Where is this database? Say names. Literally even one. Who are the dozens of CEOs? Why would you make something like this up and spread misinformation? It's been 18 years, even if someone had big stake in the game I can't understand why they would lie about this so steadfastly. Look it up.
      - bandrami 9mo ago
        I literally said "DOGE took it down" FFS it's like talking to goldfish whenever this particular topic comes up
        DoctorOetker 9mo ago
        is it on the internet archive?
  - bandrami 9mo ago
    I didn't really expect people to lose the ability to Google this quickly: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38536-failed-bank-ceo-g https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38536-failed-bank-ceo-g... https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-president-and-ceo- https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-president-and-ceo-... https://oig.federalreserve.gov/releases/news-bekkedam-senten https://oig.federalreserve.gov/releases/news-bekkedam-senten... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/09/02/b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/09/02/b...

coryrc 9mo ago

2008 was caused, in part, by the governments deciding many "banks" were "too big to fail". The fix was for the government to pick some winners, coercively lend them money and force them to buy the failing banks. Now we have fewer, bigger banks. People who were conservative with money, saved instead of over-leveraging, did not get to buy assets cheaply, because the government propped up asset prices with unlimited, cheap money. And TARP did eventually produce weak positive returns. So I'm glad they didn't lose money, but I'm not happy I was prevented from buying fire sale assets. I'm also not happy residential housing prices are 2x what they were in 2010 (and still well over 1.5x the peak of the bubble).

throw0101c 9mo ago
> 2008 was caused, in part, by the governments deciding many "banks" were "too big to fail". Perhaps worth noting that Ben Bernanke, who was the chair of the Fed at the time, was/is one of the most top experts on Great Depression (it's the work he later won the Nobel Prize for). So as bad as the GFC was, Bernanke thought it could get really bad and pushed for measures that he probably thought would prevent another 1930s scenario.
- coryrc 9mo ago
  So, the NPE isn't a real Nobel Prize :) but if the only allowable decisions are to concentrate wealth at the top, then we're just delaying and amplifying the collapse.
pjc50 9mo ago
> I'm not happy I was prevented from buying fire sale assets People who want a society-wide crisis so they can profit off it are far more morally reprehensible than people who said "we'll loosen the mortgage criteria a bit so people can buy houses, houses always go up in value right?"
- coryrc 9mo ago
  Uh, no, we're having a generational crisis because wages are flat and rent cost has been growing for decades. That's quite reprehensible. Unfortunately, in our push for home ownership, we now have a majority of people being homeowners and opposed to lowering prices, and a few companies who can make a profit lobbying to ensure prices only go up.

api 9mo ago

Most of the anger from regular folk comes from the reinflation of the housing bubble, continuing to price two generations out of home ownership. If you want to see why people are mad look at what is actually causing them pain. For young people it’s mostly housing costs. Many blame the bailouts. That may be wrong, but it’s a visible scapegoat.

sdellis 9mo ago
Anger also comes from many retirees whose retirement savings tanked. Everyday people lost a lot of money, many their homes, and no one bailed them out. It appears to many that those responsible were above the law. It's the same reason people are furious about the Epstein Files, where the only person in jail for what happened is a woman. We see our neighbors dragged out of their houses or cars without a warrant because they don't look "white" and may have committed the misdemeanor of not having proper documentation. And yet, not a single CEO was held accountable for far worse crimes committed -- in fact, they kept their bonuses! These people recklessly inflicted a huge amount of pain on the public, through lost investments, millions of people losing their homes, most young people not being able to buy homes, and creating an even greater divide between the 1% and the rest of us. It is truly weird to read comments that seem to defend them.

snapcaster 9mo ago

Who got access to credit and who was left to go bankrupt and have their lives destroyed? seriously crazy that you can't understand that

BobbyTables2 9mo ago

I was an adult and my anger is in the sense that banks and car companies got a safety net while the rest of us don’t! Think of all the small businesses that would love to take particular risks if they knew they wouldn’t have to suffer the normal consequences associated with failure…