When the economy collapsed in 2008, the government failed us.
The banks were bailed out. The auto industry was bailed out. And that was the right thing to do — economies don't work very well if there are no banks, and if whole industries collapse overnight. Those efforts were good. They just weren't enough.
Americans — regular folks, not just big businesses — didn't get the bailout they needed. The number of foreclosures skyrocketed. So did the unemployment rate. The government passed an economic stimulus, and it helped, but not enough. People lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their sense of well-being. Suicides, and suicide attempts, increased dramatically. The economy didn't collapse, not completely, but it came close, and uncounted lives were shattered as a result.
