Today’s NYT has some good articles. Nocera in the magazine, and
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/opinion/04lewiseinhorn.html?pagewanted=print
The second is ore fulsome and helpful,but Noera, who is usually very good, makes a few mistakes.
But these are the new line
1. the crisis is a failure. Not at all.the key players got what they wanted -to be very rich. They rode the wave. Which leads to line number 2
2. the collapse was a low probability event, a “black swan.” No way, the housing bubble the derivatives world, an d the US debt would all need a major correction. the question was when, not if.
In the meanwhile the bubble was there to ride, and paper profits to leverage into real money.
Moreover the selling of treasuries means lots of people get the benefit of the interest. who are they and how much? Part of the great wealth transfer.