(Photo image is from Generational Dynamics.)Back in February, the stock market's Dow Jones Industrial average was about 18,244. Yesterday that average had fallen to 16,058. That's a drop of 2,186 points (or about 12% of market value). That's not the financial disaster of 2008, but it is enough to worry people. And they are worried. A significant majority of Americans say they believe that another financial crisis will hit this country (see chart below) within the next 12 months (something similar to what happened in 2008).
About 58% of the public believes that, while only 21% say it won't happen (and another 21% don't know). They also know that our government has done nothing to protect this country from another financial crisis. About 65% believe that -- and they are right. A Wall Street reform package was passed, but it was a very weak law, and did not contain the regulations needed to prevent the same kind of financial crisis that happened in 2008.
I agree with those who fear another financial crisis. I don't know if we are witnessing the start of it, or even if it will happen within the next 12 months -- but it is going to happen. It's going to happen because our government has done nothing to stop it. The giant financial institutions are still playing fast and loose with consumers money, and trading the same kind of junk they got in trouble for trading in 2008. Also, the vast gap in wealth and income (another of the causes of the 2008 crisis) between the richest Americans and the rest of America continues to grow even larger.
Greed still trumps common sense, as this nation continues to use the utterly failed "trickle-down" economic policies of the Republicans. It seems as though our political leaders, especially the Republican-controlled Congress, learned nothing from the financial crisis of 2008.
The charts below were made from information in a recent YouGov Poll -- done between August 24th and 26th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, and has a 4.4 point margin of error.
