Cause of the 2008 Financial Catastrophe

Abstract: The Federal Reserve has said that the financial Catastrophe of 2008 was worse than the Great Depression.The Catastrophe has wiped out about twenty trillion dollars of hard earned wealth. The majority of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) has concluded that the Catastrophe was manmade (avoidable) and was due to a failure of the Experts including those at the helm of the Federal Reserve. The minority of FCIC contends that the US Housing Policy unleashed unscrupulous lenders and borrowers to cause the Catastrophe. The minority view is consistent with the majority’s conclusion that the Catastrophe was manmade and avoidable. But neither view has explained how the lenders got enormous credits to lend. The FCIC (either minority or majority) has not found the root causes of the Catastrophe: (i) how the credits expanded globally and (ii) how the US regulators allowed banks to take the expanded credits as bank debts without requiring banks to raise capitals.