Sowing the Seeds of the Current Financial Crisis

Here's a historical look back on what might have been the beginning of the unraveling of the economy and financial industry. The lesson to be learned here is that we aren't very good at learning from our mistakes!

Another lesson? It's better in the long run to be a creditor than a shareholder!

Of course, there were many reasons for the reckless lending and failures of risk management that led to the most recent systemic credit shocks. And we have now entered the realm of trillion-dollar bailouts, vast contagion across financial institutions, rapid deleveraging of banks and an economic crisis that some people are starting to compare to the Great Depression.

When will it stop? How do we get off this train? World War III?

Economic View - Bailout of Long-Term Capital - A Bad Precedent? - NYTimes.com