While few predicted the financial catastrophe, almost everyone has an explanation as to why it happened. To economists, it all seems painfully simple. Too much foreign money was flowing into the US from the Asian countries especially China. The availability of easy credit meant that too many people borrowed to buy properties that they could not afford. The bankers bundled up these loans and sold them to investors that could not understand the complexity of these bundles and the risks inherent in them. Once US borrowers started defaulting on their mortgages, they lost their houses and investors all around the world, including banks and hedge funds, lost their investments. For the critics of Bush administration, the government failed to regulate the activities of the banking behemoths. For the Fed critics, the crisis resulted from Alan Greenspan’s policy of keeping the interest rates low for an extended period of time. Given the ongoing nature of the crisis, many complicated explanations will surface in the years to come. Yet the root of the economic depression might very well lie in one fundamental human instinct: greed.

Global Consequences of US Failure to Pay Debt

Refusal to pay debt is reckless
October 9, 2013

Default or Not, Asia Hostage to US Debt

A small group of US legislators toy with global crisis to get their way
Choonsik Yoo, Kevin Yao
September 30, 2013

US Economy – Muscular or Obese?

The US could revive the global economy, but tax reform is urgently needed
David Dapice
August 16, 2012

Eurozone Heaves Sigh of Relief – For How Long?

Existential danger remains as no leader offers a vision for a united Europe
Jean-Pierre Lehmann
July 3, 2012

For US, Europe’s Debt Woes Are an Ocean Away

US voters and leaders ignore Europe’s economic crisis at their own risk
Bruce Stokes
February 13, 2012

Top Indian Technology Firms TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Aegis and Others in US Are Going for Local Hiring

Help wanted: US workers targeted, trained and hired by India’s IT firms
Shruti Sabharwal
August 22, 2011

The Eurozone Fights for Survival – Part II

European nations that abandon the union would be pariahs in the financial markets
Joergen Oerstroem Moeller
August 18, 2011