The United States: An Economic Balance Sheet Analysis

The U.S financial crisis started in October 2005. The level of new home starts would have replaced the total owner occupied housing stock in 37 years. Much faster than desirable. Mortgage interest rates also went up in same month. In 2006 mortgage lending went on unabated, but housing values did not keep pace. Securitisation led to the well known liquidity crisis in 2008.The impression was given that investors could get out of mortgage risks on a daily basis. Banking crisis, economic crisis and government deficit funding crisis followed. The paper sets out why the crises were foreseeable, avoidable but are also solvable in the short term.