A vast majority of Americans believe another financial crisis similar to the 2008 financial collapse is “likely,” a CBS News/YouGov poll found Thursday.
The poll asked respondents, “How likely do you think it is that the country will experience another crisis involving banks and financial institutions similar to the one that occurred in 2008?”
Twenty-eight percent said it was “very likely,” while 47 percent said it was “somewhat likely,” for a combined total of 75 percent of those who feel a financial collapse is likely.
Only 22 percent said it was “not very likely.” Just two percent said it was “not at all likely.”
CBS News polls 3-23-2023 by CBS News Politics
The question was posed to respondents just before the Fed raised interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter of a percent (25 basis points), a decision subject to speculation by financial experts, as the central bank weighed reducing soaring inflation and the stability of the banking system.
As Breitbart News reported, the Fed was stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the Fed increasing interest rates, banks could likely continue to struggle with liquidity and perhaps cause more bank failures. Not raising the interest rate would likely fuel inflation that previous interest rate hikes were intended to reduce.
Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
The poll also found that Americans believe President Joe Biden’s inflation is the number one reason to say the economy is struggling, outweighing the recent banking crises and the stock market decline.
Just 32 of respondents approved of Biden’s handling of inflation, while 68 percent disproved.
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The poll sampled 2,221 Americans from March 20-22 with a 3.2 margin of error.
The polling comes as Joe Biden has vowed to enact rules to prevent banks from collapsing after inflation, fueled by the Biden administration’s energy policies, caused increased interest rates meant to tamp down Biden’s soaring price hikes.
Biden’s war on American energy includes driving up private and public financing costs of oil drilling, halting drilling on public lands, and canceling the Keystone pipeline. According to a 2022 Strategic Petroleum Reserve study previously reported by Breitbart News, Biden’s war on American energy will cost the United States nearly $100 billion in output every year.
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The manufactured energy crises caused prices to rise in 2022. According to Bloomberg, inflation cost American households on average an extra $5,200 in 2022, or $433 per month.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.