The bailout was necessary to prevent an even worse crisis though again, the implementation was a failure. The US now has over 800 banks that are listed as troubled and it's rising quickly. Besides failing to tie bailout money to lending or long term pay, it also only helped a few select banks. The majority of US banks have been in trouble and only a few (the ones who were bailed out) remain profitable. We're now facing even more consolidation in the industry which will mean fewer consumer choices and a greater risk of "too big to fail" in the banking industry.
This crisis was not a simple hiccup that could be resolved overnight. Outside of Washington more and more people accept that this crisis was in fact the end result of decades of poor economic policy. Reaganomics and trickle down economics always sounded like voodoo and yes, it was. Throwing credit on top of credit on top of credit and then selling it is not "innovative" as Wall Street likes to think. It's greed and it's as fake as Bernie Madoff. CNBC:
Even if the US and European economies manage to avoid a double dip, it will still feel like a recession, while more than half of the 800-plus US banks on the "critical list" are likely to go bust, according to renowned economist Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Global Economics.
The second half of the year will remain weak as tailwinds become headwinds, Roubini told CNBC on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Ambrosetti Forum economics conference.
