If we're playing the blame game for the Great Recession, I would blame the repeal on the Glass-Steagall Act, and, yes, the Clinton Administration. If the banks weren't at the Wall Street casino table, federally-insured deposits wouldn't have fueled and been at risk when the derivative market for mortgage-backed securities collapsed.

"As the economy improved, more Americans were working, and there was an anticipation of increased tax revenues as a result of the recovery. From 1933 to 1937, unemployment had been reduced from 25% to 14% - still a large percentage, but a vast improvement. FDR's reaction was to turn back to the fiscal orthodoxy of the time, and he began to reduce emergency relief and public works spending in an effort to truly balance the budget. The country then lurched into what is now known as the Roosevelt Recession of 1937-1938. Unemployment threatened to rise to pre-New Deal levels, and the economy came grinding to a halt." http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/budget.html

Opening a hedge fund would be easier, as the tax laws are more favorable.

Please educate yourself. I gave you enough information on economics to get started with.

"To the great surprise of many consumers, credit card offers reappear in the mailbox within weeks following the announcement of the bankruptcy (it is a public record and published as such). A prime reason is that the consumer is not eligible for another discharge for two to eight years. Therefore, newly acquired debt must be paid. For the creditor, the offer is almost risk-free."

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/120914/best-credit-cards-after-bankruptcy.asp

I don't mind helping my local credit union make a profit since they provide excellent service for a lower cost and less stress than the "too big to fail" banks.

Under the fractional reserve banking, a bank can loan out $100 for every $10 on deposit. That $100 is a bookkeeper entry that created money out of nothing. The bank pays you 0.10% on your savings, charge charge someone else 9% on the loan, and keeps the 8.90% difference as profit.

Cutting spending and balancing the budget in the middle of a recession prolonged the Great Depression, which also caused the double dip recession in Europe for those countries tied to the Euro during the Great Recession. Today's politicians have no excuse for ignoring the lessons of Keynesian economics. Much of the human suffering over the last six years could have easily been avoided.

Take out credit cards and file for bankruptcy every ten years.

It's called Keynesian economics. A 1930's work program to fix America's crumbling infrastructure would do wonders for the economy. Please educate yourself and pick up a shovel.

The previous poster accused me of not understanding how to live within my means when all I did was pointed out how voters behaved at the voting booth. My personal example was to dispute that point. Seems like some /. posters are resisting the idea of taking personal responsibility at the voting booth, which of course goes back to wanting more government services while someone else pays for it.

The U.S. Mint has the legal authority to produce enough $1T coins to deposit with the Treasury and pay off the entire national debt. This was one option considered during the 2013 government shutdown. Although perfectly legal under the U.S. Constitution, it would undermine the world-wide confidence in the full trust and credit of the American people.

As part of my loan agreement, I had to direct my paycheck not only into my checking account, but also savings and Roth IRA accounts. My combined accounts now greatly exceed what owe on the loan. I could have paid off the 9% loan, but it's not a burden for me to continue paying off on schedule. This isn't like have a 30% credit card debt.

Because I haven't recovered from being unemployed for two years (2009-2010), underemployed for six months (working 20 hours PER MONTH), and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. It's hard to build up a cash reserve when you make just enough money to pay the bills but not enough to get ahead. Most of my contract jobs varied in length and pay between brief bouts of unemployments. I'm fortunate that my current job is "permanent" with annual contract renewals for the next four years.

The European countries that printed their own currency are doing fine. The countries that are tied together with the Euro are still struggling from their double dip recession. Greece is most likely to abandon the Euro. Who knows what will happen after that.

Issuing bonds isn't a problem. Saving Wall Street from its own mistake is a problem, especially for the banks that believe they're too big too fail. Banks that screw up should fail and suffer the consequences.

The United State has historically been in debt since the 1790's. If you look at the graph, we spent far more money in World War II than we did to turn around the Great Recession. The graph also shows that the debt will be going up as the baby boomers retire and the tax base (workers) shrinks over the next 20 years, where mandatory spending (social security) will consume 2/3 of the federal budget. The Republicans are talking about balancing the budget in 10 years, but their balanced budget plan doesn't fix the problem in 20 years from now.

If you're talking about the federal debt limit, which most people mistakenly refer to as a credit limit, it limits how many bonds the Treasury can issue to refinance existing debt obligations. The debt limit doesn't prevent Congress from spending like drunken sailors. If the debt limit isn't periodically raised to pay the bills that Congress already rung up on the charge card, the government will default on the debt and the world-wide economy collapses from a worthless U.S. dollar. This almost happened when the government shutdown for 16 days in 2013.