As the autumn of 2008 took hold, so did the paroxysm of recession. The U.S. economy had been going nowhere for years; by late 2006, the housing bubble had burst, and a buyers' market had emerged as homes lost their value. This time, though, it was different than in previous episodes of slow or non-growth: this time the poor and low-incomed homeowners were joined by the rich and famous, as record numbers of multi-million-dollar mansions were repossessed. Foreclosures on upscale million-dollar houses were rampant across the country. By the time the events of January 17, 2008 took place, the United States was already in the throes of the most serious recession in decades. Analysts had been predicting it since 2004, when the late George W. Bush committed billions of dollars to his new war in Iraq. Inadvertently, he'd put American taxpayers trillions of dollars in debt; debt that would take generations to pay off...and debt that would almost certainly, most economic experts agreed, lead to perhaps the worst depression in U.S. history (even worse than October, 1929). The banking industry, tattered and shorn apart by the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. explosions, was in no shape to do anything. Months before, banks were robustly foreclosing on multi-million-dollar showcase homes, then auctioning them off to a handful of potential bidders. In many cases, the bank ended up being the sole bidder, buying a million-dollar house for a hundred bucks. Now, the crippled big banks were impotent, unable to even initiate foreclosure proceedings. This created a plethora of "squatters" who were still living in their outlandish homes, even though they hadn't made a mortgage payment for months - sometimes even a year. Attracted by 'creative' financing plans, no-money-down deals, and easy credit terms, home buyers splurged. Because the big banks were suffering their own financial paralysis, home "owners" found it easy to keep their houses without making a mortgage payment. Lawyers, stockbrokers, doctors and other ultra-rich wage earners, had been lured into lavish mansions only to see their net worth evaporate after the 'Rebellion of '08' and two extraordinary natural disasters that hit the country back-to-back.
People who had become dependent on their riches found it difficult to weather the storm. Actually, it was easier for low-incomed workers and the poorly destitute. They, after all, saw little change in their financial circumstances. They were broke to begin with, so it made little difference. When economic depressions hit, suicide rates among the 'super rich' soar. Unable to adjust to more modest lifestyles, the bogus rich become the unfortunate victims of their own success.
The Bush administration knew its reckless war spending and failed economic policies would lead to a devastating depression shortly after George W. Bush left office. That's probably why they didn't put up much of a fight in trying to win the 2006 mid-term elections, and put even less heart into the 2008 campaign. Sitting Presidents always get blamed for what takes place during their term(s) in office. Former opposition parties always try to take credit for the good things that happen during a new administration's first term.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had dealt with the devastating American Revolution it fulminated on the nation during President Bush's final State of the Union address. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was effectively dealing with the impact of a gargantuan California earthquake and a series of east coast hurricanes that had further ripped the country to shreds. Now, on the eve of fresh federal elections, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was also having to deal with an impending economic depression, the likes of which the United States had never seen before.
While the Bush administration frivilously led the country into a bleak brew of war and economic chaos, most Americans continued to enjoy the carnal pleasures and materialism that their new-found fortunes brought them. Like lobsters languishing in a pot of lukewarm water, Americans weren't watching as the pot started to boil. Now, as the water began to scald the economic pot, Americans could do little else but scream in agony over their own apathy. "We've been too busy watching 'Deal or No Deal' to pay any attention to what our beltway gangsters were doing," wrote one small-town newspaper publisher. "We made our deal with the Devil. Now it's payback time. And we're not prepared - as a nation or a society - to handle the truth of what our squalid and squanderous pasts have reaped." The "Great Depression" was coming to America - an economic cataclysmic catastrophe that would quickly engulf the entire world.