Corporate Crime

$14 Trillion

No, that’s not the national debt. That’s the cost of the 2008 financial crisis according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

The financial crisis may have erased up to $14 trillion from the U.S. economy, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Calling it a “conservative estimate,” the Dallas Fed determined that the crisis resulted in losses equal to $50,000 to $120,000 for every household in the country.

Put another way, the crisis erased nearly one year’s worth of economic growth from the U.S. economy, according to the new analysis, which was released around the five-year anniversary of the Wall Street meltdown. [....]

The report concluded it is more likely the costs will mount rather than dwindle, and it said losses could end up erasing as much as two years of U.S. economic growth when it is all said and done.

And keep in mind, President Obama inherited this crisis when he took office. This among several other existential crises left behind by not just the Bush administration but also several administrations before it.