Abstract
The article is aimed at showing the most important causes of the financial
crisis of 2008 and highlighting its features which are similar to those of the
Great Depression of the 1920s.
The author presents dilemmas and forecasts of the global economy future
development and emphasizes civilization-related changes of a revolutionary
character in the global economy. In this context economic cycles were
presented from the point of view of N.D. Kondratieff’s theory. Modern
technologies and the whole infosphere are what will certainly determine the
future development of the global economy.
Analyzing new tendencies within civilization-related changes, the author
concentrates on the specific conditions which led to the global economic crisis
in 2008. The present economic crisis is a speculative one and it is typical of
a financial market. The author also highlights the disastrous situation on the
American mortgage market and explains how it triggered the first stage of
the credit crunch.
The author used elements of the method of analysis and synthesis which
enabled him making a conclusion that the present crisis would transform into
an economic crisis and a recession.