If you’re wondering how we got into the big money mess, Kiplinger has a nice and easy 15 step guide to the market meltdown. They trace the origins back to 2000, when the Federal Reserve made the federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge each other for short term loans, very low. Then we go through the speculative bullshit of the subprime mortgage market, the various imaginary castles built on top of it, and then just how everything went to pot once the naked emperor was revealed. No blame-casting, just the straight up facts.

15 Things You Need to Know About the Panic of 2008 [Kiplinger] (Photo: Getty)

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