financial crisis

financial crisis

In 2009, Congress and the president set up the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis. At a hearing of the commission in 2010, Robert Rubin— who had served in top management at Goldman Sachs, had been secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, and had served on the board of directors at Citigroup during the crisis—testified that “all of us in the [financial] industry failed to see the potential for this serious crisis.” Why might the financial crisis have been difficult to foresee, even by people working in high-level positions in the financial system? Were there changes in the financial system that—at least with hindsight—might have indicated that by 2007 a financial crisis had become more likely? Briefly explain.