First, the root: there are four popular sayings.
1, excess liquidity of assets.
Around 2000, the real estate industry in the United States was very hot, and a large number of real estate speculators poured in (these real estate speculators were defined as subprime lenders because their credit ratings were not up to standard).
Real estate speculators borrow money from loan companies under the condition of insufficient funds, and use housing as collateral.
The real estate market is also risky, so loan companies look for investment banks, the leading brothers in American financial circles, to raise funds.
In order to share risks, investment banks issue CDO bonds (with extremely high interest rates) to hedge funds, so that bondholders-investors of hedge funds can share the risks of housing loans.
In order to share risks, hedge funds found insurance companies represented by AIG to buy CDS insurance and set up CDS funds. With the soaring real estate in the United States, CDS funds made a fortune. As a result, the fund sold like crazy, and various retirement funds, education funds, wealth management products, and even banks in other countries bought it.
By the end of 2006, the relationship between supply and demand had undergone profound changes, and the American real estate, which had enjoyed five years of scenery, finally fell heavily from its peak, and the food chain finally began to break. Because of the falling house prices, the time limit for the loan interest rate has come. First, ordinary people can't repay their loans, and then the loan company goes bankrupt, and hedge funds lose a lot. Then AIG insurance company and loan bank were also implicated. Citigroup and Morgan issued huge loss reports one after another, at the same time, the major investment banks that invested in hedge funds also suffered losses. Then the stock market plummeted, people generally lost money, and the number of people unable to repay their mortgages continued to increase. In the end, the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States broke out and was close to becoming a subprime mortgage crisis. The credit crunch has opened the door to hell, but I don't know how to close it. ...
2, American greed-abuse of financial leverage for profiteering.
At present, many investment banks use 20-30 times leverage in order to make huge profits. Suppose Bank A has its own assets of 3 billion, and 30 times leverage is 90 billion. In other words, this bank A uses 3 billion assets as collateral and borrows 90 billion for investment. If the investment gains 5%, then A will gain 4.5 billion yuan, which is 1.50% relative to A's own assets. On the other hand, if the investment loses 5%, then Bank A loses all its assets and still owes 654.38+0.5 billion.
CDS fund takes 5 billion as guarantee, because this fund sells crazy and makes 500 billion! If you earn 10%, it is 50 billion violence; If you accompany 10%, you will use 5 billion deposits to accompany 45 billion!
The investment bank invited Nobel economists, Harvard professors and financial engineers, used the latest economic data model, and after some financial alchemy, produced several analysis reports, prompting financial institutions to make huge profits by using large leverage, and the risks can be seen with their feet! But profiteering, greedy Americans decided to do it!
3. The credit is too loose
The vigorous development of American economy in the 20th century benefited from the loose credit system. Why?
Because scientific and technological innovation determines the strength of modern countries, the loose credit in the United States has prompted a large number of enterprises to carry out scientific and technological innovation, and a large number of new products and inventions have come out, which has rapidly enhanced the economic and military strength of American countries.
It is precisely because of the inertia of this system that a large number of loans have occurred in the United States in recent years, and the scale of the real estate industry has expanded rapidly, resulting in a huge economic bubble and leading to the subprime mortgage crisis.
4. The Federal Reserve's supervision of financial institutions is weak, and Greenspan is the initiator of the financial crisis.
As the central bank, the Federal Reserve Board in the United States is called the "Federal Reserve Board". Since 19 13, the Federal Reserve Board has been controlling the money and credit in the United States, playing the role of "lender of last resort", adjusting the economy by using the three levers of open market business, discount rate of bank loans and statutory reserve ratio of financial institutions, aiming at "providing a safer, more stable and more adaptable monetary and financial system" for the United States. Of course, the US financial crisis is related to the dereliction of duty of the Federal Reserve-poor supervision of financial institutions.
There is a saying in the global financial circles: "When Greenspan opens his mouth, global investors will prick up their ears" and "When Greenspan sneezes, global investors will catch a cold", because his position is too sensitive, and he is doomed to become the center of various storms. When Greenspan was in charge of the Federal Reserve, continuous interest rate cuts made the borrowing cost extremely low, which naturally led to a large number of people with limited repayment ability borrowing. Whether Greenspan is a man or a god, he may also make serious mistakes.
The above four statements have some truth and are worthy of recognition, but personally, the most pertinent answer is as follows:
The real root (from the point of view of famous economists): the fundamental contradiction in capitalist society-the contradiction between socialization of production and capitalist private ownership, that is, the problem of resource allocation. Generally speaking, due to the extremely unbalanced distribution of wealth, most of the wealth is occupied by a very small number of rich people, while the vast majority of others also want to pursue a decent life. Therefore, once given this opportunity, most people will flock to make irrational financial investments, which will cause drastic fluctuations in the financial market and major changes in the relationship between supply and demand (such as the great changes in the oil price in the United States), thus bursting the economic bubble, leading to economic recession and triggering a financial crisis.
Second, the origin: the US subprime mortgage crisis
Third, proliferation and harm: most industries are affected, and banks, securities industry and production enterprises have been hit hard.
In the United States, the real estate industry bubble caused huge losses in the American banking industry, which further affected corporate financing and the stock market (stock market crash), spread from the stock market to the private sector, enterprises went bankrupt and the unemployment rate rose.
Europe and Japan: With the global economic integration, Europe and Japan have close economic ties with the United States, and the United States itself is on fire, so the investment in Europe and Japan will be greatly reduced; The American stock market plummeted, the assets invested by Europe and Japan in the United States shrank sharply, and many American securities held by European companies became waste paper with the bankruptcy of American investment banks, and so on.
China: Three Horses Driving Economy: Investment? Quit Consumption, the first two have been blocked, overseas investment losses, huge export losses caused by exchange rate changes, a large number of workers in the Pearl River Delta region are unemployed, China enterprises have suffered from the cold winter, and inflation has not guaranteed the lives of farmers and migrant workers. At present, China must expand domestic demand and promote consumption to tide over the economic crisis.
Fourth, how to alleviate the financial crisis:
It's hard to say. Now the whole world is discussing this problem.
European and American tendencies: joint rescue of the market, the government issuing bonds to inject funds into the market, and resisting the economic recession by promoting currency liquidity.
Japanese tendency: Go it alone and buy Asian bankrupt enterprises (such as Nomura) in order to compete with the rising China economically.
China tends to expand domestic demand, stabilize housing prices to prevent inflation, strengthen infrastructure construction, improve people's livelihood and promote domestic consumption.
Note: absolutely original, it took me three hours to organize.