Since this whole SNAFU began a little more than a year ago I’ve read a lot about the fallout, and I’ve inferred a lot of what caused it, but I never could assemble the whole story. Thankfully, there is This American Life to explain it all to me. Their show (click on the picture above to go to it) details both sides of the equation–the global demand for a new kind of investment with a reasonable risk/reward proposition and the unsuspecting individuals who were convinced, by hook or by crook, that they could afford a home and that its value would always go up. The story is very interesting and very scary. It captures this perfect storm of lies, deception, naivete, and downright stupidity that we all have to deal with now.