Foster JB and Magdoff - The Great Financial Crisis—Three Years On

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1、TheGreatFinancialCrisis—ThreeYearsOnJOHNBEllaMyFOsTERandFREDMaGDOFFTheGreatFinancialCrisisbeganinthesummerof2007andthreeyearslater,despiteaputative“recovery,”itisstillhavingprofoundeffectsintheUnitedStates,Europe,andinmuchoftheworld.Austerityisbeingforc

2、edonworkingpeopleinmanycountries.Mattersareespeciallydif-ficultinGreece,acountrythatisbeingcompelledbythedemandsofbankers,includingtheInternationalMonetaryFund,tosqueezeitsworkersinreturnforloansfromabroadtohelppaydowngovernmentdebts.Officialunemploymen

3、tintheUnitedStatesisstillaround10per-cent,andrealunemploymentismuchhigher.Anunprecedented44percentoftheofficiallyunemployedhavebeenwithoutworkforoversixmonths.Arecordnumberofpeoplearereceivinggovernmentfoodassis-tanceaswellasmealsandgroceriesfromchariti

4、es.ManyU.S.statesandcities,facinglargeshortfallsintheirbudgetsduetofallingtaxrevenues,arecuttingjobsandreducingfundingforschoolsandsocialprograms.Muchoftheattentiondevotedtodeterminingthecauseofthecrisishasbeendirectedattheroleof“subprime”mortgagesinthe

5、UnitedStatesthatweresoldtolow-incomepeoplewhohadlittlechanceofbeingabletopaythemortgagesontheirhomes.Manyofthesesub-primeloansweregivenoutunderpredatorytermsthatwereespeciallyunfavorabletotheunsuspectingborrowers.Thebundlingoftheseloanstogethertobesoldt

6、oinstitutionsaroundtheworldservedtospreadsignificantriskfarandwide.Yet,despitetheinstabilitygeneratedbysuchloans,andawholehostofexoticfinancialinstrumentsassociatedwiththem,theveryseverityoftheGreatFinancialCrisissuggeststhatitwasnotprimarilyaproductofs

7、uchspeculativepractices.Rather,itwastheoutcomeinthemainoflong-termstructuralfactors,reflectedintheseculardeclineineconomicgrowthratesandthelong-runincreaseoffinancialfragilityandinstability.JohnBellamyFoster(jfoster@monthlyreview.org)iseditorofMonthlyRe

8、viewandprofessorofsociologyattheUniversityofOregon.FredMagdoff(fmagdoff@uvm.edu)isprofessoremeritusofplantandsoilscienceattheUniversityofVermontandadjunctprofessorofcropandsoilscienceatCornellUniversity.Hehaswrittenonpoliticaleco