ABSTRACT
In the first decade of the twenty-first century the United States endured a serious economic recession. Unemployment was up, housing sales were down. Foreclosures were up, spending was down. Homelessness was up and, curiously, profits were up. The stock market plunged, surged, and plunged again. A bailout of the auto industry and of banks “too big to fail” provided a political backdrop to a suffering economy and many confused and distressed citizens. The Great Recession was not confined to the United States. Global economies are so intertwined that almost every region of the world was impacted by economic problems. Who suffered the most? Who the least? How was the pain distributed? These are compelling questions with complex answers. When large numbers of people lose jobs or families lose their homes, these are individual problems brought on by social conditions. From individuals to small businesses to large corporations, everyone is affected. While the recession hit us all, not all people were affected the same way. Those with savings could weather the loss of income for a while, as could many families with more than one source of income.
