ck's archive: how we got here

All the recent discussion of a federal bailout plan has illuminated once again that I don't really know what's going on in the financial world. I've had a vague feeling of upset that the people who came out on the losing side of risky gambles aren't being made to suffer for their decisions, but it was never clear to me which people did the gambling and how it came to be so widely acknowledged as a good idea.

This (PDF) transcript from NPR's This American Life does a pretty good job explaining how things built up to the state we're in now.