The Credit Crunch

‘A recession is when your neighbour loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours.’ Hynson attributes this 1980 pithicism to the restored ruin that was Ronald Reagan. Had he consulted his history books he’d have found out that its originator was Harry Truman a good deal earlier. But be that as it may (and it is) the Credit Crunch has, from the viewpoint of my currently debt-free pensionerhood, been incomprehensible – how could they be so reckless / stupid / greedy / naïve etc etc? So, can Hynson unravel an explanation? Yes he can. In simple terms he explains economic growth, stock markets, sub-prime mortgages, toxic loans, Freddie Mac, and government bail-outs, making credible sense of an absurd situation. Placing the current scenario in its historical context we learn that we’ve been here before – with that other Northern Rock, the Jarrow marchers. Hynson inspires nothing but incredulity, but by the end of his book we can express this with informed fluency. Well worth sparing a dime for.