There was a greater risk to consider, but few did. Both global economic and political (incl. military) systems were being tested simultaneously. The USA had accepted large-scale, indeterminate military action as a cost of doing business - a cost that was carried via issuance of debt. It barely made the news anymore. And we spent too much on all things non-military, as well.
The federal government tried to spend it's way out of debt. It didn't work. Our democracy was available to the highest bidder... namely the corporate lobby. They owned the media, too. Dissent was marginalized and left to ferment on the internet. Globalization was just beginning to reveal it's many facets: religious fundamentalism, disease/pandemics, tribalism, rampant technology, and a host of other consequences, unexpected and unintended. Looking back, it is clear that few among us grasped the aggregate risk that surrounded our lives 8 years ago.
We ran a few red lights during the political campaign season, and we didn't do any better after the elections, either. The hangover was a hopeful but foggy period. A few crises had ripened by that time, but we were conditioned to expect recovery and a return to the status quo of American hegemony. Much larger risks had already accumulated and suddenly everything that could go wrong, did. We could have asked more questions and demanded answers, but by then it really didn't matter anymore. The damage had been done.
Since then, the public discourse and vocabulary have become more serious. Stock market gyrations and the-next-big-thing have yielded to basic elements of life and survival. Employment, food, gas, water, heat. Nobody talks about global markets anymore. Supply and demand are local. Word-of-mouth amongst neighbors and the internet have eclipsed both television and hard copy press, but not radio. The farm report matters once again.
--MP
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