How did we get here? I want to know because I'm not an economist, and although I've tried to put it all together, it doesn't make sense. Here's what I think has happened, but it feels incomplete: Banks loaned money to people who didn't qualify for those loans because of Carter's Community Reinvestment Act. This was stupid, but people (who?) were making money off it, so they didn't stop. Barney Frank defended against regulation of Fannie and Freddie proposed by GWB because he received money from both. The people couldn't pay their loans, so the banks needed to get that...