Given the current banking crisis we are experiencing, is this a redux of the 2008 crisis?


Answer: While there are some similarities between 2023 and 2008, I do not believe this is a similar crisis.  The biggest difference is that in 2008, nearly every bank had widespread exposure to mortgage backed securities.  In the 2023 crisis, it is only a few banks that had overexposure to treasuries without any hedge against rising interest rates.   Additionally, in 2008, while two different banks collapsed, there was much more widespread fear amongst the banks that caused a credit crunch.  Banks were unwilling to lend each other money for fear of liquidity problems, which in turned led to the credit markets freezing and causing secondary problems of companies being unable to attain lines of credit to meet payroll.   In 2023, there was also a failure of 2 banks, but the failure stemmed from a traditional bank run where depositors, en mass, were attempting to withdraw their funds at the same time, causing a liquidity problem with the affected banks.