10 Years Ago This Weekend, Lehman Brothers Collapsed

10 years ago this weekend, Lehman Brothers collapsed Lehman Brothers, one of the world’s largest investment banking firms, collapsed 10 years ago this weekend on September 15, 2008.

The collapse led to a global financial crisis and an ongoing series of government bailouts that ignited strong public resistance. "It’s hard to overstate how deeply Americans despised their government’s response to the global financial crisis," according to The New York Times.

Among other things, the fury about bailouts led to the creation of the tea party movement.

For a time, the entire system of free-market economics was called into question. Ten years later, however, 77 percent of U.S. voters have a favorable opinion of free markets.

While faith in free markets has been restored over the past decade, trust in government has not. Just 18 percent trust the federal government to do the right thing most of the time.

One reason may be that 58 percent still want the biggest banks to be broken up.

However, since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, "the biggest financial institutions have only gotten bigger." According to The New York Times, "This increases the likelihood that taxpayers will be called on again to rescue these behemoths if they get into serious trouble."

Voters share that concern. Forty-six percent fear that the collapse of a large bank today would lead to another financial crisis. Just 19 percent disagree, and 35 percent are not sure.

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.