The Hotel Industry Outlook

The U.S. economy as a whole has weathered some severe economic conditions during and since the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis and the 2008 credit crisis. The recession claimed over 8 million U.S. jobs and left the economy damaged with an unemployment rate holding at 9.1%. The combination of a long recession, liquidity crisis, and anemic growth has revealed the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. The economic system has experienced economic shocks in the likes of an insolvent Bear Stearns, record setting bankruptcies from Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, and Washington Mutual Bank; in conjunction with the bankruptcies, the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are no longer publicly traded companies, the U.S. Treasury placed them into receivership in2008 while contemplating how to wind down the two mortgage giants. The catastrophic unwinding in the financial markets continued with the down grade and collapse of AIG and with Bank of America purchasing Countrywide Mortgage Lenders and Merrill Lynch during the height of the financial crisis. The bursting of the housing bubble and the after effects created a chilling condition which caused the credit markets to freeze and interbank lending among financial institutions to come to a grinding halt. The trickledown effect of Wall St. woes became a major problem on Main Street. This was a case of multiple financial events occurring simultaneously, within days of each other and they demanded the best possible crisis management in order to stop the financial bleeding and stabilize the system. The TARP legislation passed by congress was a major step toward stopping the economic bleeding. This massive process of unwinding in the private sector has affected both big and small businesses across all sectors of the economy. The economic impact of the recession