They let the greenback devalue with hopes that a legitimate economic recovery would take the place of the credit expansion that has dominated this decade.

This does not make sense
If the dollar devalues and takes more to buy less, then the only ultimate out come is the use of more credit. There are certain things in life most people must have.
McMansions and Walmart were not where the average American's debt is accrued.
Car repair everyday wear and tear on tires that must be replaced, Dr. bills that
are not affordable as well as the Dentist. Clothing prices going insane, insurance insanity. The mark ups in each one of these as well as property tax as well as a few other things that cannot be avoided in life lead up to the average Americans debt.
So the more that dollar was devalued the more people had to use credit just to get by.
McMansions come into play when for a 1000sq ft house the builder now charges 125.00 a sq ft. What I could buy for 29,500 my child must now pay 150,000 for the exact same home based all on that dollar devalue and it's trickle down effect.
It wasn't greed on the little persons part but an act of survival when they refinanced. To get rid of the bills the everyday of necessities in life that the dollar would no longer pay for without the assist of credit.
But then the same cycle starts again doesn't it, because unavoidable things happen in everyday life that must be repaired or paid for by that same devalued dollar.
And to be able to save for anything with that same devalued dollar is a joke.
I am a certified miser and always have been, and if I can't do it then very few could.
Walmart only came into play after people refinanced and had a little extra money.
Unfortunately the children for the last 8-10 years have had to grow up without the scrimp and have had the excess from the refinance to support a techno way of life
that the children years prior were not afforded, so now it has become a way of life
that is not a sustainable one by the current standard of what the dollar can buy.
This country cannot also be sustained on one third of the job force being in the finance sector. That figure by itself shows you the imbalance of the dollar buying power and the need to sustain the average lifestyle with the fortification of credit.
Now more so than ever because everyday that passes what was slightly unaffordable now becomes majorly unaffordable.
Had the average wage kept up some semblance of growth along with those prices of the necessities in life this situation would not be what it is today.
The investors thought they deserved the right rather than the privilege and the CEO gave them the benefits of the profit intake rather than take care of the employee with a wage increase.
Continuation of this cycle and you have the situation that we face today
Cancer patients do not bleed, they take medicine and then die. The quality of their life while still alive while taking the poison they administer under the guise of medicine is not worth living.
Hence my outcome of the financial situation is to let it die. For every life that dies a new life is born to take their place.

And then throw this in there for the icing on top of that cake, along with the politics of corporate for oil and war toys and you will understand just how this country came to be in the mess it's in.
And it was all extremely calculated right down to the government in schools
with their psychological training or should I say retraining of those good old fashioned values and principles of compassion and empathy that used to apply, that are now scoffed at and looked upon as negative qualities in the average everyday life. The aid of medications from the perception of a teachers evaluation alone
and aided by the drug industries incentive driven power over the medical association has made this an extremely easy plan to enact by those that represent our government.
Choose to believe me or not, but the pattern is there as well as was the financial aid for it to be put into place right down to the psychologists in the school,
who should not be there