and many economists believe that the deficits incurred by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan caused the Great Recession of 2008 by falsely inflating the value of the dollar while increasing our financial reliance on the housing market.

Many others believe that the cause was tied to Clinton's surplus budget that left no payment in the private sector for the resources and labor used by the government. Every dollar of deficit spending becomes someone's monetary asset in the non-government sector.

No deficits also means no new Treasury bond issues, leaving investors looking for safe parking for US dollars. The next most secure option is the US mortgage market and the vast quantity of money seeking shelter offered ripe conditions for a housing bubble and some shady derivatives.

With the lack of new money input the people were forced to finance their own economy and pay for their government with bank lending. This gave incentive for them to use their homes as ATM cards and set up the trifecta of economic disaster we saw culminate in '08.