When America Stared Into the Abyss


"The Treasury secretary’s voice exuded tension and urgency. 'A very serious situation is developing,' Henry Paulson warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the phone. 'Nothing we can say will calm the situation until we come up with a policy that is overwhelming force!' Later that Thursday afternoon, Pelosi received the same dire message when she telephoned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; financial markets were seizing up, major Wall Street firms were on the brink of collapse, and the nation’s economy hovered perilously on the edge of an abyss. Pelosi recalls asking, alarmed, 'If things are this bad, why aren’t you calling me?' Paulson and Bernanke urgently requested the speaker to convene the bicameral congressional leadership to hear the George W. Bush administration’s proposed response to the rapidly accelerating crisis. Pelosi agreed to call a meeting the next day. That might be too late, Bernanke cautioned. Indeed, without swift action, there might not be an American economy by the end of the weekend. ..."
The Atlantic
The Atlantic: The Nancy Pelosi Problem (April 2018)
The Atlantic: How Wall Street’s Bankers Stayed Out of Jail (Sep. 2015)
The Atlantic: The Never-Ending Foreclosure (Dec. 2017)
The Atlantic: This Sociological Theory Explains Why Wall Street Is Rigged for Crisis (Sep. 2013)

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