History Commons^™

The Victors Of Finance: How Federal Connections To Corporate Wealth Weakened Reforms In The 2008 Financial Crisis, Jordan S. Donohue

Senior Projects Spring 2022

This research details the economic policies enacted in the late twentieth and earlier twenty-first centuries which laid the groundwork for the 2008 financial crisis. It evaluates the degree to which the Federal Government’s policies were influenced by corporate wealth on Wall Street. The secondary mortgage market is emphasized as a key area in which the Federal government incentivized predatory lending. The research posits that the Federal government’s financial ties with Wall Street weakened reforms in the 2008 financial crisis. Further, that it caused a national loss of housing and wealth, particularly for residents of color.