Did economic terrorism trigger the crisis of ’08?

It’s an interesting theory, and while I haven’t studied it in detail, Ed Morrissey has, and he is a bit skeptical, especially because not only has the plan’s Phase 3 not happened, but not all of our competitors or even enemies would necessarily benefit from seeing the U.S. economy destroyed:

While we have piled up even more debt and find ourselves lurking towards a Greece-like crisis, the short-term instability has mainly dissipated.  Furthermore, the nations Freeman cited are no less hostile to American interests than they were in 2008.  So if this was the plan all along, why no Phase 3?

Furthermore, one of those nations — China — has extensive holdings in the US. While it’s certainly possible that the Chinese autocracy might be so hostile to the US as to risk destabilizing their own country to bring down the American economy, it hardly seems likely.  China’s government has no love for the US, but does have a love of economic success.  They have even introduced capitalism back into their economy over the last several years (in a limited fashion) to improve their economic performance and prevent full-scale uprisings as seen in the Arab world this year.  China’s rulers may be brutal, but they’re rational and rather predictable, too.  Russia has enough problems in its own economy and hardly has the resources to conduct an economic war against the US, and their rivalries are mainly with Europe.  Iran has every incentive in the world to attack the American economy, but few allies to join them in that region — and the Saudis would prefer to unseat the mullahs in Tehran rather than destroy the US economy that both feeds and protects them.

The report is very useful in underscoring the potential vulnerabilities in our system, especially in relation to sovereign-wealth funds, and should get attention from policymakers in protecting the US from financial wars.  However, just because something is possible doesn’t mean it happened.

That is true.

And just because people want to believe something doesn’t mean it’s true. The idea that economic terrorism caused the meltdown strikes me as emotionally satisfying to so many people that it could become (and probably has become) an immediate runaway conspiracy theory whether it is ever proven or not. 

And much as I would love to blame George Soros, I’m remaining skeptical until I see some real whodunit proof.