The Start of the Financial Crisis

When the final report on the root causes of our current financial crisis is written, poor journalism and resulting government policy may be found as the seed and soil of the problem. Steven Malanga, an editor for RealClearMarkets and a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute wrote an insightful article, “The Long Road to Slack Lending Standards”, that explains how we moved from time tested standards to a new and ultimately unstable lending model all in the name of social justice. There were many other players along the way; some acting with the best of intentions, some who took advantage of a new opportunity to make money, some in Congress that just didn’t understand finance and a few unethical crooks. But cancer starts with one bad cell and Steven Malanga has found it.