This is a plain-English explanation of how we had the existing economic disaster that created out of the economics and politics of the housing boom and bust. The “creative” funding of home mortgage loans, and the even more “innovative” marketing of monetary securities predicated on these mortgage loans to countries around the world, are area of the story of what sort of financial house of cards was developed and then instantly collapsed.

The politics behind all of this is another story full of strange twists. No punches are pulled when talking about politicians of either party, the financial dangers they developed, or the distractions they created later on to escape their own responsibility for what happened.

Sowell unravels the tangled threads of the problem and explores the implications to reveal some surprising and sobering lessons.