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Here, the focus is on a detailed, albeit pedestrian, account of the history and factors leading to and following the "melt-down of 2008", with sufficient explanation of the workings of derivatives to permit even the layman to understand easily the issues at hand.

The considerably amount of hard data shows that the primary cause of the melt-down was the US Government and its agents (the GSE's Fannie, Freddie, et al).  While bankers have a share of the blame, their contribution is seen as primarily that of "speed" of collapse.  The primary issues is the US Government's 1.5 Trillion dollar "shadow bail-out" of the GSE's and the effective cover-up of the US Government's culpability in the melt-down due their 7 Trillion dollar over-supply of the sub-prime mortgage markets, and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.