In 2008 it seemed a sure thing that the economy would wind up in the next Great Depression.
Look at all that was happening with the bursting of the real estate bubble, collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market, freeze-up of the banking system, ravages of the Great Recession, collapse of the auto industry, bailout of mortgage-insurance giant AIG and the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler.
It was then a sure thing that the massive stimulus and bailout efforts would not work, and the costs would bankrupt the country and drop it into third-world economy status.
There was no chance that the banks or the U.S. auto industry would ever pay back the bailout loans. The assets the Federal Reserve was also putting on its books to help the banks clean up their balance sheets, by exchanging Treasury bonds for some of the toxic assets on the books of banks, was just further money down the drain.
The way the banks seemed to be using the bailout loans to expand, buying out competitors, expanding into Asia, rather than using it to make loans, was going to make the �too big to fail� problem even worse for the future.
Even since the recovery began, it has been derided as just an illusion, as could be seen by the housing industry still being mired in depression-like conditions, and no progress being made in the terribly high unemployment situation.
Sometimes it seems we�re so focused on the negatives that we haven�t noticed the unexpected positive surprises in the recovery
For instance, how many realize that most of the government loans made to the banks and auto industry have already been paid back, with interest.
Or that the U.S. auto industry has bounced back dramatically. Global auto sales recovered sharply in 2011 and the U.S. led the way, with sales up 9.2%, topping even the 6% auto sales growth in China.
Yesterday it was reported that General Motors has bounced back from its bankruptcy three years ago to a degree that it has regained its crown as the top-selling car-maker in the world.
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