In many ways, we are worse off today than we were in 2008.
If asset prices were allowed to deflate, the purchasing power of workers and those on fixed incomes would have increased. As it stands, many people are making less than they were in 2008, but the things they need to buy with their wages have either gone up in price or remained the same. It’s (stagflation) the very worst possible outcome, IMHO.
Yes, wages would go down as well without all the interventions, but they tend to be “stickier” than asset prices, both on the way up and on the way down.
All the interventions managed to do was concentrate wealth into even fewer hands while destroying the purchasing power of those who work for a living and/or live on a fixed income. The damage that’s been done to seniors who are trying to live off of interest income is totally unforgivable.
We are still mired in a deep recession/depression (not “official,” but tell that to the growing number of people who are living hand-to-mouth), and the story is not over, yet. I’d hardly call what we have experienced in recent years a “success story.”
