The global financial crisis and the Great Recession of 2008-09 marked the end of a decade that seemed too good to be true for many Americans. After escaping the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 relatively unscathed, the U.S. economy experienced historic booms in stock markets, housing markets and credit markets. Huge increases in households' wealth and borrowing, in turn, supported robust consumer-spending growth and housing investment despite moderate growth of income for most...

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