David Bahnsen saw the 2008 financial crisis from a unique view as a managing director at Morgan Stanley.
To more fully understand what happened, he said he’s read more than 70 books on the crisis.
As a result, he’s written his own book, “Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure it,” which is scheduled to be published in February by Post Hill Press.
The book, which he said is a call for higher morality, discusses subjects like free trade, government, the media and immigration, among other things. Bahnsen said he doesn’t see a repeat of 2008 on the horizon.
In his view, the financial crisis occurred because of a “perfect storm” of issues, such as easy monetary policy, excessive leverage on Wall Street and misdirected government policy.
In what is certain to be controversial, he said the main cause of the 2008 financial crisis is that too many homeowners had no shame when walking away from their mortgages. He said many other books are loathe to tackle the subject.
“The largest creator of the financial crisis was Main Street, not Wall Street,” Bahnsen said. “The sine qua non was the complete shift in American moral character where we were willing to default on an obligation we were capable of making.”
It’s a theme that isn’t politically correct and is certain to get plenty of headlines.
Bahnsen is ready to argue his point in public.
—Peter J. Brennan
