How the 2008 Financial Crisis Still Affects You

As someone who was still in middle school in 2008, I never really understood what happened. Even watching documentaries and movies about this crisis didn’t help much. But this video here is such a clear and structured piece of work that finally give long awaited answers for me. Really awesome to live in the information era.

It was a very bad decision to remove the Glass-Steagall Act in the late 1990s, which led to the spectacular failure of huge banks during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. To prevent another disaster, Dodd-Frank and this statute both need to be reestablished right away. What happened with SVB is only the beginning of what will happen if nothing is done to address the current situation.

I did IT work for a major IT firm at a major chemical producer starting in 2001. In 2008 our IT work staff went from 15 people to 8 to 4 to 2 in a matter of months. Everyone took mandatory pay cuts, loss of benefits, loss of vacation, and more overtime even as they were shoving people out the door. I kept my job through all of it watching both the IT firm and chemical producer tighten their belts. We understood the world was hurting and we thought if we were lucky for just surviving. Here's the dirty little secret... even when things got better and both companies were posting record profit, we never got our pay, benefits, or vacation restored nor a reduction of overtime. The companies might have been forced to reduce, but it also allowed them to see the minimum human factor they could maintain and survive. By 2016, I was used up. The companies had literally worked me so much I was experiencing both mental and physical health issues. Being the 'Senior' of the two remaining employees, I was on call 280 days a year when it was common to get called in two or three times a night. They expanded the territory I was expected to cover time and time again. I was left no choice but to leave -- not only that job, but IT completely. I now work as a layout / designer for a small print shop making a fraction of what I was making. That's my takeaway from 2008. Companies used the opportunity to weed out the weak and exploit those that remained under the guise of, "Look how lucky you are" all while pocketing record profits. All 2008 did was let the greed trickle down, fester, and ruin even more lives.

Our economy struggling with uncertainties, housing issues, foreclosures, global fluctuations, and pandemic aftermath, causing instability. Rising inflation, sluggish growth, and trade disruptions need urgent attention from all sectors to restore stability and stimulate growth.

I was born a planned child. My parents had set up a few of accounts for me for college and a house. They were doing their hardest to build me a future they dreamt of for themselves. I remember going down to the bank once a week with my dad and depositing money into my fund. “This will be here for you, one day you can buy a house!” I remember when my sister was born, they started one for her as well. I remember the rental property my dad bought and was renovating. I remember the plans he had to build a new building for his business. I remember how my mom was always in time to pick me up from school. Then one day, it all disappeared. We stopped going to the bank, my dad didn’t mention his rental nor his architectural plans, mom stopped picking me up. I remember how often I was home alone in the house, I was already in bed by the time they’d come home from work. I remember the countless arguments they would have. Couldn’t sleep at times. My dad had a heart attack due to the stress, but I didn’t understand at the time why dad was in the hospital. I remember how often we’d eat frozen/prepared food. How we started it buying in bulk, a habit that they still have today. My parents barely kept the house and my dad’s business. Both declared bankruptcy.Only by having it under my grandmother’s name did they keep it. After my dad’s heart attack, grandma ransomed it back. We haven’t seen her since. My parents were robbed of their work and time with their family. They lost their savings and future. Meanwhile, head bankers got paid EXTRA to ruin millions of lives and continue to this day.

It’s just crazy to me that so many of these bank managers and executives didn’t go to prison or worse. Absolute free license for unrestrained psychopathy; it’s no different a problem than letting dogs with rabies run around.

I graduated undergrad and entered the workforce in 2009. As a working adult, I have never had full confidence that the money I’m working for will actually be there on payday. I know millennials catch a lot of flack for being critical of employers and workplace expectations, but truly I think we are so traumatized by the era we work in. Growing up seeing our parents get by with no degree, climbing corporate ladders from entry level positions while being able to afford a house, a family, a savings… Being told that if we work hard enough we can have what they have… Looking at the bigger picture, it feels like gaslighting 😵‍💫

2008 lost my house, 2009 lost business, husband died, ended up a widow at age 30 with no credit cards, no saving, and no job. Still trying to get my feet under me. I’ll definitely never be able to own a house again. 2009 has definitely marked my life, and derail all my future plans.

America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In April alone, credit card debt went up 20% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun.. Lloyd Bernard

2008 sucked. One day I was an aggregate manager. The next I was an equipment operator working seasonally. I was called to a meeting and told to bring my laptop, company phone, and company truck. They left me in the shop parking lot with my own tools and no way to get to my home 30 miles away. I never felt like such a failure. To make it even better my wife was on bed rest with our child due to complications and I did not want to tell her our income was not cut by 60 percent. We lost everything in the next 9 months. House. Savings. Vehicles. Most of retirement. I watched friends, who I warned about the sub prime loans lose their houses. I never want to go through that again. I am still trying to recover. The only good that came out of that time was my wonderful daughter.

A big consequence that nobody talks much about is that an entire generation of high school students never got to enter the workforce like they normally would. Myself and nearly everyone I knew was competing against grown adults who had lost their jobs and were now applying to the formerly entry-level work like fast food and retail. A generation of kids lost out on 2-3 years of savings and work experience. The “summer job” became a thing of the past.

The fact that these bank CEOs were not arrested and jailed for life is beyond me! The destruction they caused makes jeffrey dahmer look like a saint.

The government's response to the crisis was crucial in lowering market apprehension. The economy of the United States of America as well as that of other countries was impacted by a lack of transparency and public trust. It makes me question whether it is morally appropriate—or even secure—to rely solely on the analyses provided by these so-called experts. I hope this doesn't happen again given where we're going

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes" - Mark Twain

The 2008 collapse was the event that solidified my belief that luck is the single most important factor for success in life. I graduated college in 2008 along with a number of friends and people that I knew. Every one of them ended up doing just fine, the collapse was nothing more than a slight bump in the road for them. Within a year it was like nothing happened and they were all in good paying jobs with massive vertical potential. Meanwhile, I was still struggling to get job interviews and make anything happen, the collapse had absolutely decimated my ability to do anything. Looking back at the wide scope of degrees we all had and where we ended up, my belief that luck is the single most important factor in life has been set in stone. It's also hilarious @35:20 seeing the national debt at "only" $11 trillion, seeing as how now it's over $31 trillion. $31 trillion...just let that sink in.

Comments feels like an AA meeting... Having lived through this as a millinial has woken me up to how brutal the systems can be. Hope we can fix this. Great vid man.❤

I was working as a Computer Network Engineer at the time. Then all hell broke loose over the next few years. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck. As things imploded, I lost my job, my house, my wife and my way of life. I was trying to do consulting in any type of IT that I could find but no luck. It was just too hard while I was fighting my ex-wife over child support and paying huge lawyer fees. I finally just gave up and moved back in with my father and mother. At the time, my mother was slowly dying of some sort of brain related dementia or Alzheimer's (I really don't think they ever really knew). This is when I got low wage driver jobs at Pizza Hut and then as a package handler for FedEx. This is very hard work when you are going on 60, I wasn't a kid anymore. I seriously considered some kind of suicide at this time. During all this I had run up my credit card debt to about $70k ( a combination of business debts and reeducation). I ended up borrowing money from a friend and invested in foreclosures. It was the only best game in town. I made a little money but nowhere near enough. When my mother passed and then my father a few years later, I was able to pay off most of my debts with the inheritance. As soon as I hit 62, I claimed my social security and moved to the Philippines. I live a meager life. I paid my debts and I am enjoying the lower cost of living. I never thought this could happen to me. I had a good life up to the crash of 2008. Thanks for the video. It's a nice piece of work that shows how our lives were destroyed and many of us never recovered. My sons will never have a better life than my parents did.

The amount of financial trauma this gave my now-ex girlfriend...she is terrified of credit, debt, loans, and banks, and constantly thinks she has no money and will lose everything overnight. Her family was hit hard by 2008 and it shows in her approach to personal finance today. Her father did not learn his lesson and continues reckless spending and debt habits swearing one day he will get rich again. It is so sad.

I was born into a well off family, but in 2008 we lost everything. Went from living comfortably to unemployment checks and food stamps. It’s pretty much all I’ve ever known because I was so young and my family still suffers to this day. My parents lost all their savings over the years trying to keep us off the streets and I’ve already promised myself to never have children no matter how well I am doing financially because I’d never want my child to experience this. I think a lot of people my age feel the same way, it’s sad that we can’t trust our government not to give in to corporate lobbyists. 2008-2010 were some of the most impactful years of my entire life.

I am 21. In 2008, I was 6 years old. My understanding and experience of the economy is wholly shaped by a post-2008 experience, similar to how I will never understand the "pre-9/11" world either... Thanks for explaining the complete disconnect between the way I conceptualize the economy, and the way Gen X adults do. It's so difficult to see why they still see innate value in certain assets, especially "conceptual" ones.