We’re Replicating the Mistakes of 2008
As the government rushes to aid the economy, how that’s done, who benefits, and who is left behind matter. So far, the signs are ominous.
![Job seekers in California in 2009](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/6zUK6_nS7Izop9NhbGzchbbNYf0=/686x0:2631x1945/80x80/media/img/mt/2020/04/GettyImages_84728387/original.jpg)
As the government rushes to aid the economy, how that’s done, who benefits, and who is left behind matter. So far, the signs are ominous.
An eight-year campaign to slash the IRS’s budget has left the agency understaffed, hamstrung, and operating with archaic equipment. The result: a hundred-billion-dollar heist.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission tried for 16 years to make portable electric generators less dangerous. Then a Trump-selected official took charge of the agency.
After reporting his own company to the SEC, it took Tony Menendez nine years to win back his dignity.
Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever. Sophisticated investors describe big banks as “black boxes” that may still be concealing enormous risks—the sort that could again take down the economy. A close investigation of a supposedly conservative bank’s financial records uncovers the reason for these fears—and points the way toward urgent reforms.