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2008: What Really Happened
Understanding the Great
Financial Crisis
By Todd Sheets
The Presidential election resurfaced issues related to housing affordability, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve, all of which can be traced back to the 2008 financial crisis. And yet, over 15 years later, the American people still lack an understanding of what caused this nearly catastrophic event. In his new book, 2008: What Really Happened, financial expert, Todd Sheets presents extensive original research that unveils what triggered the sudden and historic upsurge in home prices in 1998, the critical mistake that caused prices to accelerate so dangerously in the early 2000s, and how the housing bubble then led to the financial crisis.
Mr. Sheets also presents objective measures that help explain why some institutions survived the crisis and others didn’t, and details precisely when and why the initially stressed, but not panicked, financial markets went into a tailspin. In addition, the book reveals the key policy responses that finally brought the Great Financial Crisis to an end.
In 2008: What Really Happened, you’ll learn about:
· What Americans and the new Trump administration
can learn from the Financial Crisis and how to apply these lessons to today’s
key issues, including Trump’s “unfinished business” with Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac;
· The critical mistake made by the Federal Reserve
that blew the bubble to such dangerous proportions;
· The critical measure that shows why some
institutions survived and others failed during the crisis;
· The role played by the long history of
government bailouts that frustrated so many and led to the Occupy Wall Street
movement;
· How the Financial Crisis fits into a debate over
the proper role of government in the economy that dates back to the founding of
the country; and
· What investors, executives, board members and policymakers can do to protect themselves from and prevent another crisis.
In addition to debunking many myths, Mr. Sheets presents compelling histories of the people, institutions and timeless issues involved. He also sets forth measures that homeowners, investors, executives, board members and policymakers can take to protect themselves, our financial institutions, and the system as a whole from a repeat. 2008: What Really Happened is must reading for all those who want to truly understand the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Todd Sheets graduated with honors from the University of Iowa and won the prestigious Elijah Watt Sells award on the 1981 CPA exam before embarking on a career in investment banking. In the late 1980s, he initiated and led Raymond James Financial’s Recovering Markets Program that bought undervalued apartment properties in distressed markets; all of these properties were later sold at a profit to the firm’s investors. In the early 1990s, he founded and served as Managing Director for Raymond James’s highly regarded public real estate investment banking practice before retiring to devote himself to long-held interests in investing, writing, and economic history.
