Just finished reading 'Boomerang',

a financial story by Michael Lewis, the same guy who wrote 'The Big Short', 'The Blind Side', a true story that explained a lot about football, and 'Moneyball', another true story that explained a whole lot about professional baseball. 'Boomerang' is basically 'Finance for Dummies', as it explains how/why the big boys in Wall Street financial circles made HUGE money bundling, then selling AAA rated mortgage loans. BUT, they ran out of the easy money source, SO, they dropped all lending requirements, hence 'liar loans', with 100 % financing, to under-qualified borrowers, on over-priced properties. The Bush backed financial system, rating agencies, and so-called 'regulatory agencies' (led by Chris Cox) looked the other way and the big money boys made a killing, as the worthless mortgages wrecked not only the US economy, but were sold all over the world, and the 'toxic assets' took down the international financial system. THEN, they bet against their own loans with 'derivatives' that added insult to injury. It wasn't the ONLY thing going on, but it was by far the worst. Lewis does a great job of explaining, so even Repubs could understand it, IF they'd try, but they like to pretend it was Barney Frank, who merely tried to increase home ownership, but had NOTHING to do with the liar loans that Wall St created. Pretty obvious as you look back on it, and real scary as Lewis explains the present state of the EU and local/state/national finances in the US. Luckily, we have the US Congress to look out for us, and get things fixed. RIIIIIIGHT, after they allowed the Wall Streeters to not only avoid jail, BUT, allowed them to take bonuses on the $860 billion in bailout money that Bush wrote to keep the whole country from imploding before he slithered out of town. According to the Pubs, though, it's all Obama's fault....