The economic crisis, as explained by my colleague Art Leyzerovich

Here is my simpler explanation of what happened as I tell it to my 87 year old today (happy birthday, babushka!) WWII veteran grandma:

1. Mortgage brokers lied to home buyers, telling them they would have no problem paying off their mortgage.
2. Mortgage brokers then lied to investment banks, telling them they did due diligence evaluating mortgage applications.
3. Investment banks lied to their customers about the riskiness of the pooled mortgage assets they sold.
4. Ratings agencies lied to the public about the riskiness of the banks' investment vehicles they were evaluating.
5. Investment banks then also lied about their ability to underwrite the credit default swaps (CDS) that they sold to other banks to hedge their risk [this is actually the bigger problem].
6. Bank executives lied to their investors and other banks about the value of their assets.
7. Government officials lied to the public, telling us everything was fine and they had their eye on things.
8. And of course, more than a few home buyers lied about their earning power/job stability (see step 1).
   

Double solid line (i.e. net outcome):
============Everyone who lied, got free stuff:=========

• Mortgage brokers got big commissions for years
  
• Investment bank executives (and employees along for the ride) got big bonuses (and severance packages!)
  
• Ratings agencies got lots of consulting fees
• Government officials got to "loaf at the office" (or in Crawford, Texas) instead of doing their job of oversight
• Many homeowners got to live in houses much bigger than they could actually afford for a few years
  

Now, nobody believes anybody else, and now you and l get to pay for it all, cause of course, ain't no one above giving any of it back (excepting some spectacularly symbolic show trials). QED!!!