How the crash discredited the Anglo-US democratic model | Will Hutton
by Will Hutton from on (#2Z45Z)
Authoritarian China is now an economic blueprint for Zuma and Maduro
Ten years ago this week, it became clear that the dread event - a run on one bank that will create a malevolent impact on others - was under way. A US investment bank had a few weeks earlier summarily closed some of its property-based hedge funds to stop a cascade of sellers; now a French bank was doing the same, as a panic about overblown property values infected confidence.
The financial crisis of 2007/8 was the beginning of a chain of events that would ultimately threaten the viability of the west's banking system - the landmark economic moment of this century, the consequences of which are still playing themselves out.
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