Yet far more devastating than the housing bubble was the financial panic that gripped capital markets worldwide after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The decision by the US Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to teach the markets a lesson by allowing Lehman to fail was a disastrously bad call.
但比房地产泡沫破坏力更大的是雷曼兄弟倒闭后发生的席卷全球资本市场的金融恐慌。美联储和美国财政部决定给市场一个教训，放任雷曼兄弟倒闭，这是特别糟糕的信号。恐慌剧烈而严重，央行不得不行使其最后贷款人的基本作用。