I don't think the full story on that is known yet, and it'll probably be a few more years before it can be really understood. I think there was some degree of crisis, but also that it might have been greatly overblown, maybe because some panicked, or maybe because some used it for their benefit. Don't really know for now.
“or maybe because some used it for their benefit.”
Geez, you think? Only Paulsen knows for sure? It was all about paying off Wall St., not saving it.