Satyajit Das was discussed earlier on Mefi. This interview with him is a great explanation of the financial skullduggery that we're knee-deep in.
posted on Sep 22, 2007 - View this thread

A New Kind of Bank Run. ...a new financial architecture has emerged that relied more on securities and less on banks as intermediaries. With the worth of [these new] securities now being questioned — and no equivalent of deposit insurance — some who financed the securities want their money out, a fact that has created the 21st-century equivalent of a run on a bank. . It's no wonder these securities are being questioned, when some are based on Ninja mortgages and foreclosures are up 58% from last year.
posted on Aug 10, 2007 - View this thread