Many people, myself included, have been looking back at the Financial Crisis of 2008 and asking the question, "What the hell happened?" The information landscape of finance is a difficult one made even more difficult by political agendas. Having interest in both financial markets and politics I have been reading and listening to many sources to try and understand the event. Even though I spent three years at Fidelity Investments as a brokerage trader, had my series 6, 63, 7, and 4 licenses to trade securities, and being a political junkie for the last 15 years, I would not call myself an expert in either arena. What I do well is listen to very smart people and evaluate their arguments and their evidence calmly and rationally to come to a conclusion about an issue.

Due to the complexity of this particular issue I have chosen to share with you all the sources I have used to inform myself and my opinions rather than create a summary or specific conclusion. I think it is extremely important for us as citizens to understand to the best of our ability the events that shape, and shock, the world in which we live so that we may have the most accurate understanding of the forces at work. Even if we are unable to derive 100% concrete conclusions.

To begin, I would suggest you start with the following podcast:

Russ Roberts on the Crisis – Russell Roberts is Professor of Economics and the J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Roberts has a clear style of speaking that provides a great place to start. He doesn’t lose his audience with technical jargon and even shares the possible concerns as to why his theories could be incorrect (a sign of someone that is after the truth). If you prefer to read instead of listen, this podcast is based on his paper Gambling with Other People’s Money, feel free to start there instead.

After you have listened to Roberts, you may desire more as I did. Here are other sources to get more insight, analysis, opinions, and perspectives on this issue:

SHOWS:

PBS FRONTLINE: The Warning

PBS FRONTLINE: Inside the Meltdown

PBS FRONTLINE: Breaking the Bank

PODCASTS:

EconTalk and John Taylor

EconTalk and Charles Calomiris

EconTalk and and many other thought leaders discussing the crisis

BOOKS:

Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy

A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of '08 and the Descent into Depression

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Executives at seven banks that either had to or were forced to take money from the TARP bailout will receive 50% pay cuts. While this may be appropriate, one cannot help but ask the question, what about all the other culprits? Congress (most specifically the Senate Finance Committee), Freddie Mac executives, Fannie Mae executives, the economic power team for Clinton and Bush of Greenspan, Ruben, Geithner, and Summers. Men who refused to allow government agencies to investigate the derivatives market. This is not unlike two partners in crime who get busted and one testifies on the other, allowing the one to take fall. Justice is not being served. The company executives certainly bear some of the blame. However, their primary objective is to make profits. It is the role of the government to protect the people and to do this through proper regulation of the markets and the businesses within those markets. The lions share of the blame rests on the regulators that turned a blind eye, and forced others to do the same. We need a new crop of politicians, we need term limits, we need fresh leaders that are not addicted to the heroin of reelection. There is no other answer.