This crisis was a long time coming. You might claim its genesis was in the resolution of the S&L Crisis, Freddie and Fannie, repeal of Glass-Stegal, careless banking regulation, an untested securities valuation formula, inevitable boom bust cycles caused by the Fed's interest rate manipulation or just the overwhelming desire of Americans to own their own home. I blame it on cable TV's endless stream of real estate programming.

Americans reached for the pot of gold and borrowed too much money to purchase real estate. Wall Street cooperated by rolling out a whole new type of financing. Prices jumped unrealistically creating a $15T bubble. When bubble inevitably burst not only were borrowers and lenders caught up but so were all the investors who funded and insured the bubble. The entire credit apparatus froze up in the Fall 2008/Winter 2009 until confidence in the value of underlying securities could be restored.

Stock markets peaked during the boom in July 2007 then sensing trouble decelerated before crashing mightily. The hit bottom in February 2009. This crash accelerated layoffs already in the works because of globalization and automation. Equity values dropped by 40%. Government staggered under the burden of reduced tax revenues and increased unemployment and poverty. Debt skyrocketed. The value of the dollar plunged.

The recovery of 2009 produced stock market gains but little improvement in unemployment. Automation and globalization kept US unemployment high. By 2011 unemployment remained officially above 9% and another 10%+ were reported as under-employed or discouraged out of the labor force.

By 2010 as the public debt approached $14T, national leadership began to panic. In a vote of "no confidence" Congress blocked higher tax rates then rejected the resulting unbalanced budget, bringing the government to a standstill in April 2011.....to be continued (still just a stub )