How To Explain The 2008 Financial Crisis To Your Kids (And Most Adults) is a short video from “Say It Visually.” A closed-caption version, which the link in this post leads to, is available on Dotsub.com.
It’s the newest addition to The Best Sites To Learn About The U.S. Financial Crisis.
Bruce Judson has a good explanation aimed at a teenage audience. You can access it here:
http://thecompasspoint.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/the-financial-storm/
I don’t think it was accurate, in it’s emphasis on ending Glass-Stegal as the proximate cause of the crises, since mort. backed securities existed before that. The introduction of “exotic” securities like MBS’s with “tranche” splits, and others (CDO’s) which were unregulated “insurance” (I call ’em bets myself) REALLY brought down the house of cards. There was a whole slew of dereg that happened when Glass-Stegal ended, and some people use that as shorthand for that (like the specific injunctions against regulating derivatives), but the video specifically cites investment banks merging with depository institutions and then creating MBS. I don’t call me picky?
Sorry, I mean, I don’t know, call me picky at the end.