Prior to the crisis, consumer demand was high the world over, more so in the US. Consumer spending and consumption was high. Financial institutions supported consumer appetite with the wide usage of financial instruments including credit cards and lending in the area of subprime mortgages. The crisis saw consumers hit on a number of fronts.
The real problem with the reigning doctrinaire was that it institutionalized a certain market philosophy which never in the past came for a mid-course correction in spite of opportunities provided by crises of relatively smaller intensity. More importantly, it greatly influenced the philosophy of regulation of financial markets and put market prices at the centre of the prudential regimes.