They did not engineer it. It was 10 years in the making. We never truly recovered from the Dot Com Crash. The Housing Bubble was blown by the Federal Reserve to “fix” the economy, thereby postponing the adjustment. We did it a second time during the past 2 years, so the next down leg will be a doozy.
They did not engineer the crisis. They engineered the way the crisis was suddenly sprung on the public, all over the TV news and the headlines.
People who follow financial matters were aware of it, but most people suddenly woke up to the news that the world was about to end unless the Fed arranged a huge bailout.
I know all of my children and friends were extremely worried. And the way it was played, everyone was led to believe that McCain was clueless (which he was) but that Obama was exactly the right guy to fix it.
Bush also sat there with his mouth open, as Pelosi and Reid declared that Obama should take charge of the meeting at the White House.
That was the October Surprise: The world is going to end, unless we pass the bank bailout and elect Obama to fix things. McCain thought he could just step in and grab the credit. He was sadly mistaken, and left with egg all over his face.