Back at the start of 2004, America’s banks discovered that they could borrow money cheaply from Asia and lend it out in higher-yielding domestic mortgages while using sophisticated financial engineering to wall off and strictly control their risks – or so they thought. Over the next two years, annual US spending on residential construction roared upward, from $624 billion to $798 billion, the US unemployment rate dropped from 5.7% to 4.6%, and the economy grew at a 3.1% real annual rate.
到了2004年初期，美国银行发现他们可以从亚洲拆借到资金，价格相当便宜，转手转贷给当时国内高收益的住房按揭，同时配以设计精良的金融工具来规避严控风险——至少当时他们是这么认为的。在随后的两年内，美国民用住房建筑投资直线上升，从6240亿美元飙升到7980亿。失业率也从5.7%降到4.6%，经济实际年增长率是3.1%。