Klein, Maury --- "The Panic of 2008: Something Old and Something New" [2010] ELECD 690; in Mitchell, E. Lawrence; Wilmarth, Jr, E. Arthur (eds), "The Panic of 2008" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The Panic of 2008

Editor(s): Mitchell, E. Lawrence; Wilmarth, Jr, E. Arthur

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802611

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: The Panic of 2008: Something Old and Something New

Author(s): Klein, Maury

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

1. The panic of 2008: something old
and something new
Maury Klein

History is often regarded as something between a balm and an oracle,
replete with a variety of signs that must be interpreted by those who think
they have special insight into what they mean. The story is never a com-
plete or fully satisfying one because the variables are so maddingly elusive.
Have we chosen the best set of quivering entrails to examine? Do we have
all the relevant facts? Do we have them accurately? What if anything do
they tell us about the present situation?
Every major crisis sends us scurrying to our past for clues to what is
going on. We ransack it relentlessly but never to our complete satisfaction
because it is so crowded and contradictory in its contents. Most people
would like very much to believe that history repeats itself. It would help
make sense of the present and offer reliable guidelines for the future.
Above all it would give the hopelessly cluttered closet of the past a sense
of order and meaning by offering simple and convenient explanations for
complex events that otherwise defy clear understanding.
Unfortunately history never repeats itself, but historical patterns do.
They are constants that arise from the timeless fundamentals of human
behavior. It is through these most basic elements of human nature ­ love,
hate, greed, sacrifice, fear, ambition and the like ­ that we find the clear-
est and most satisfying understanding of the past. Although it is true ...