Robert Trigaux of the St. Pete Times came up with these five reasons for our current economic troubles:
1. Ratings chicanery by groups like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. Some of the investment never should have had AAA ratings.
2. A brand new Bush White House determined to let the free market blossom joined with a Wall Street machine poised to tap new sources of wealth worldwide, courtesy of the new globalization boom.
3. Free money. When you lower interest rates close to zero, borrowing money becomes almost free.
4. Tech Bubble bursting led people to flee the stock market and instead invested in the mortgage-based instruments.
5. Ineffective media watchdog.
Read more.