(Written by a U.S. citizen on July 15th, 2010)

The causes of the financial crisis are widely acknowledged and agreed upon.

Here are some articles, resources, and videos to help guide you through the events of the past few years. We have provided journalistic articles, editorial analysis, authoritative lectures, and various other sources to help you form your own thoughts. We have broken down the crisis and how we got here in different stages, and the individual components are in chronological order of occurrence. By the end of this series you’ll have a through idea of what happened, what steps we need to take to fix this crisis today, and how we can take steps to prevent another crisis from crippling our economy in the future.

Below is an article detailing the perspective of three top economists in the world, and how serious our problem is: 2009 Worst Recession Since Great Depression

Here is a visual timeline overview you can use to keep track of the following events: Visual Timeline of the Recession

1. The Housing Bubble and Subsequent Collapse

First, we’ll start with the rise of the housing bubble, and its eventual collapse. The growth of the housing bubble mixed with deregulated credit stringencies led to a housing boom. Sub-prime lending and predatory lending practices are universally perceived as main culprits, and here are some articles detailing what happened and how things went wrong in the housing industry.

An article discussing how Bush tax cuts got could have caused the housing crisis: http://hnn.us/articles/41985.html

In depth analysis of the housing crisis that spurred the current state of the economy: http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/files/documents/Housing_White_Paper.pdf

A video detailing sub-prime mortgage: http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/isc.upenn.edu.1316366031.01500724728.1501702834?i=1435074464

Additional resources on the housing crisis:

http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/143257
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/834937141.html?dids=834937141:834937141&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT
http://aol.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06092914.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-05-20-greenspan_x.htm
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1011005.shtml

2. The Financial Collapse

While the housing crisis was and still has independent ramifications on the economy, and the practices listed above had a disastrous domino effect on Wall Street. Various economic estimates put the losses in the trillions of dollars. Listed are references on what went wrong with over-leveraging, how big the impact was, and what policies are being implemented to make sure this does not happen again.

An easy to read picture-based guide that details the sudden collapse: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0809/gallery.week_that_broke_wall_street/index.html

A timeline that outline’s Wall Street’s collapse: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20440

Some articles on the leverage practices of Wall Street and why they were destructive, from multiple perspectives and dates to show you the progress:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/17/magazines/fortune/investing/Tully_WallStIsBroken.fortune/index.htm
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1653556,00.html
http://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedpbr/y2010iq2p1-8.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/wall-street-leverage-risi_n_271488.html

Details on the shocking collapse of two of the largest, most prestigious investment banks:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/22/morganstanley.goldmansachs
http://www.muzzerino.com/2008/09/wall-street-crash-2008.html

The same collapse from different political perspectives:

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/the-recent-wall-street-crash-was-not-the-failure-of-economic-conservatism/Content?oid=1116123
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/cras-o10.shtml

Not to underscore the gravity of the issue, some humor interjected. This video also serves to show how ingrained this crisis was in the American life:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-17-2008/the-economy---you---wall-street-collapse

An American perspective on the outrage of what happened:

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/26/who-caused-the-financial-collapse-why-aren’t-they-in-jail/

A video: Understanding the Crisis in the Markets: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k44822&pageid=icb.page204660&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent405292

Additional resources:

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/reports/otcact.pdf
http://mises.org/story/2999
http://monthlyreview.org/080401foster.php
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24f73610-c91e-11dc-9807-000077b07658.html
http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cong_test/27/
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm;jsessionid=a830ee2a1f18c5f62020347bf11442669617?articleid=2234
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html

3. The Bailouts, the Recovery, and How We Are Moving Forward

With the housing and Wall Street crises threatening to destroy the American economy, the government decided it was time for intervention. While this has likely prevented the collapse of Wall Street and various degrees of economic ruin, the overall effectiveness of the government assistance is hotly debated as unemployment is still at historic levels. Outlined below is a chronological timeline of what happened with the bailouts, the Recovery Act, the reaction of the individual and society as a whole, and finally, where we are headed today.

A timeline of all the bailouts in US Government history. Specifically, post 2008 would be Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, AIG, Auto Industry, TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), Citigroup, and Bank of America.

The Bear Stearns Bailout:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080314_993131.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/bear-stearns-bailout-expo_n_463391.html

The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Bailout:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5750841&page=1
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/22/news/companies/fannie_freddie_bailout/

The AIG Bailout:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122156561931242905.html

The Auto Industry Bailouts: Articles are the multi-stage bailout of the auto industry are in chronological order. The two bailouts are discussed thoroughly and then subsequently there is an article on how this has helped the economy today:

http://consumerist.com/2008/12/bush-approves-auto-industry-bailout.html
http://mises.org/story/2999
http://monthlyreview.org/080401foster.php
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24f73610-c91e-11dc-9807-000077b07658.html
http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cong_test/27/
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm;jsessionid=a830ee2a1f18c5f62020347bf114426
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html