An excellent explanation for someone like me who knows nothing about the subject. The disturbing part is about the possibility of sinking into recession or worse--especially if we have to depend upon politicians to grasp the seriousness of the issue.

A cogent explanation of the credit crunch. Lacks perspective of various sources and hard data, but is successful in its intent.

The beginning provides an accurate description of the bond market and of some of the problems with the current problem with the mortgage situation, but without mentioning the very real problem of predatory lending. The opinion at the end fails to take into consideration the issue mentioned in the middle, that Merrill Lynch needed liquidity and couldn't get enough after lending to a hedge fund. The problem of banks granting mortgages at unrealistic high values (common here in the inner city) to people who are pressured and/or lied to in order to encourage them to take on unaffordable mortgages is never mentioned.

i appreciate this explanation of how the bottom of the mortgage bonds market fell out. the author accomplishes what the mainstream media seems to have no interest in--gives enough basic information to a novice in financial matters to begin to question the implications of the systems involved.

I wrote it I am too biased to comment. It tries to explain what the mortgage backed securities problem is, how it arose, and some of the consequences. It is written for the non professional reader.