Where We Are and How We Got Here

Reason Magazine has posted one of the better explanations of the credit mess. Well documented and well worth reading.

"Let's be clear: This is a Wall Street crisis, not a national economic crisis.
The overall economy, while a bit weak, is still growing. Some
politicians are comparing
the current environment to the Great Depression. But in 1932, when the federal
government last moved to bail out the banking
sector, economic output had fallen 45 percent and
unemployment was a staggering 24 percent. Today, economic output is actually
up and unemployment is a historically modest 6.1 percent. The overall economy
doesn't even face a liquidity crisis in the current turmoil. Consumer,
commercial/industrial, and real estate loans are all up over last
year. "