Business and the Great Recession

Excessive executive pay, opacity in business operations, and growing disparities in wealth set the context. Government responses to the American economic collapse stopped the financial panic and bailed out big banks as well as the automobile industry, but came up short in quickly getting the economy back on track to a full recovery. The recovery was slower and less robust than for any other post-World War II recession. There is general agreement that problems in the housing market exposed problems in the financial industry to bring about the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the Great Recession. Responses to the Great Depression included major changes to the way in which the housing industry was financed. The lack of a full economic recovery by the middle of 2016 should also be counted as a failure of the reforms.