A Search For An Explanation Of The 2008 Financial Crisis

My search to what caused the 2008 financial crisis began because I wanted to know the real story behind what happened to our economy and how something like this was allowed to happen. I am sure I am not the only one out there who was tired of the news, politicians, bankers, and professors talking over our heads with words like credit default swaps, derivatives, collateral debt obligations or CDO's and this list goes on and on. What is even more frustrating is that I have a BS in Finance and worked in the financial sector and I still had a tough time understanding all the explanations of this crisis.

Now, how is it that a person who has a degree in the subject and a person who worked in the sector had a tough time understanding the explanations of the 2008 financial crisis? Well, you see, the problem is that there are two very distinct groups of people in America: "Wall Street" and "Main Street". By "Wall Street" I mean the individuals that main street puts in-charge of their financial dealings so that everyone will prosper.


However the truth is that Wall Street has become so increasingly complex and greedy that the average Main Streeter can neither follow the convoluted path that our money travels on any given day nor do they have the understanding of how this whole system is put together. So I came to a very quick conclusion, I needed to find information to educate myself on these dealings and at least get to the corner of Main and Wall Street.

In my research, I found that I had to go back to the basics of finance in order to grasp these explanations being given to us. I also found that the 2008 financial crisis was more than 20 years in the making. It was not just because of an alphabet soup the experts were feeding us but was a result of deregulation, and a severe lack of oversight. I also found that Wall Street has gotten more greedy and because of this greed they have also become wealthier albeit on the backs of Main Street. But the truly disturbing thing is that no one responsible for this crisis has faced any jail time or ridicule but instead were rewarded and some even promoted. Many of those responsible for this crisis are still in positions within the banks that caused the crisis and within the government that allowed and even helped it along.

As stated above, in order to understand how the crisis happened we must first understand some basics of the financial world. We also have to understand what the economic climate was before we fell into a full blown recession. In my research to find the causes of the 2008 financial crisis I came across a blog that is very informative and starts the reader off on the basics.


Article Source: Kevin Alvarez