How we got into this mess

By Felix G. Rohatyn

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

New leadership is coming to the United States and it is none too soon.

When President Clinton sent me to France as his ambassador at the end of 1997, our economy was booming, the stock market was at an all-time high, our budgets were in surplus, the dollar was strong and our debt was shrinking.

Today, all that has been turned upside down. The United States, the richest nation in the world, has been nearly ruined. Our economy is not providing work for all Americans who need it; jobs continue to go abroad by the millions, and we are running huge deficits that grow exponentially day by day. The financial crisis in our markets has caused the credibility of our economic system to be challenged. Our currency has been devalued and we have taken on a staggering $10 trillion of debt.

What went wrong?