Financial Fiasco: How America's Infatuation with Home Ownership and Easy Money Created the Economic Crisis

Financial Fiasco digs deep into the foundation of the economic meltdown, revealing how it was the product of conscious actions by decision makers in companies, government agencies, political institutions, and consumers. An easily accessible work written for general readers, Financial Fiasco tells the compelling story of how rate cutting by the Federal Reserve inflated the real estate market and fueled increased risk-taking in the financial markets; how new government policies to promote home ownership blasted air into the credit bubble; how new financial instruments, credit-rating requirements, and accounting rules intended to prevent cheating backfired; and much more. Financial Fiasco guides readers through a world of irresponsible behavior, warns that many of the solutions being implemented are repeating the mistakes that caused the crisis, and offers guidance on how to move forward.

"The merit of the book does not lie in apportioning blame or defending the thesis that government interventionism, not unbridled markets, was the principal cause of the tragic events whose consequences still haunt us. Norberg's book does a good job of bringing the arguments together and providing us with a full canvas. What is especially compelling is the evidence that this bubble was in essence no different from previous ones and, more eerily, that various governments are busy incubating the next one." --ALVARO VARGAS LLOSA, DESERET NEWS