The First of the Three Causes of the 2009 Great Recession

Beginning in the late-1990s, the Federal Reserve Bank, the federal agency that controls most of the nation’s money supply, exploded the available supply of dollars. Given the additional growth of regulations, companies were disinclined to use much of the new money to build their businesses. Instead, the excess money flowed into real estate, whose prices soared. The prices rose too high and were followed by devastating declines.