A Gruesome Anniversary

The Wall Street Journal looks at the tenth anniversary of the official start of the credit crisis and asks whether or not we’ve learned anything. I think we’ve learned some things collectively and forgotten others. And then there is some dispersion between those who’ve truly internalized the important stuff versus those who still have no clue.

But that’s just my opinion, what’s yours?

Ten years ago this Wednesday, the first glimpses of the global financial crisis came into view.

A French bank froze three investment funds, saying a lack of trading in subprime securities made valuing them impossible. The bond market seized up, rattling investors and central bankers who previously soft-pedaled the notion that the U.S. housing bust would hit the economy.

Aug. 9, 2007, marked the beginning of the most far-reaching economic disruption since World War II. The events that Thursday made clear that subprime-lending excesses wouldn’t be “contained,” as Ben Bernanke, then Federal Reserve chairman, had predicted just months earlier. Yet few people appreciated the scope of the disaster that would unfold over the next 18 months.

Keep reading:

Aug. 9, 2007: The Day the Mortgage Crisis Went Global (Wall Street Journal)