The 2008 global financial crisis can trace it's roots back to the 2001 Dotcom bubble. The US Federal Reserve had reduced interest rates following the 2001 Dotcom bubble burst, which encouraged banks to lend money not just to prime (safe) individuals, but also to sub-prime (risky) individuals, to invest in the housing market. Eventually, the number of sub-prime loans far outnumbered the prime loans, but banks managed to put lipstick on a pig by bundling the subprime mortgage backed securities with prime mortgage backed securities. This all came to a head in 2008 when the US Housing market crashed. Subprime borrowers mass defaulted on their debts, and the financial crisis went international when it was discovered that similar housing bubbles were building in other countries, like the UK, Spain, and Ireland.

The after effects of the 2008 global financial crisis were most present in the USA. The average net worth of a family decreased by about 26% (adjusted for inflation), and the unemployment rate was 10% in 2010. Some of the banks involved with the sub-prime mortgage lending ended up being bailed out by the government, which led to the "Occupy Wall Street" protests in 2011. Industrialized countries around the world saw decreases in fertility, and the public debt of these countries increased dramatically. Most of these countries ended up realizing that a lack of oversight of their financial institutions had allowed the crisis to occur, and so implemented stricter regulations to prevent another crisis in the future.
spam fails_task lang_mismatch pii not_appropriate hate_speech sexual_content quality toxicity humor helpfulness creativity violence