John Murray: The Great Frustration – hesitant steps toward global growth and rebalancing Remarks by Mr John Murray, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, to the New York Association for Business Economics, New York, 27 November 2012. *  *  *  Introduction The collapse of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008 triggered a precipitous worldwide economic collapse.
What had previously been viewed as a passing bout of “financial turbulence” was suddenly transformed into a full-blown panic. The U.S. economy, which was at the epicentre of the crisis, suffered its most severe downturn since the Great Depression. It could have been much worse.