As difficult as it was, the aftermath of the GFC followed a predictable pattern: To cope with the crisis, central bankers slashed interest rates to spur activity, the economy slowly stabilized, and private equity was able to claw its way back from what many predicted would be its unraveling. The resulting period of growth in the years that followed created a private equity industry that is vastly larger and more complex than anyone in 2008 could have reasonably expected.