The most significant lasting effect of the Lehman Brothers collapse and the subsequent financial crisis may be the ballooning of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. The Fed pumped billions of dollars into the economy, using a process called “quantitive easing” to swell its balance sheet to $3.6 trillion today from roughly $800 billion in the summer of 2008. Rico Gagliano took a tongue-in-cheek look at where all that money comes from.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
