Need help understanding some parts of this credit crisis

[Dvduh]

Ok so i am trying to understand what policy decisions other countries made that allowed us to get into this credit crisis we are in, or at least made it worse.

for instance, i know Japan loaned our hedge funds a large amount of money to invest in sub prime mortgages and then that was like th ekicker.

what ar esome other factors, externally that have caused this crisis

maybe some links to some articles to read if you know any. google is killing me today

[Broken Arrow]

The best phrase I've seen is, "The economy is a complicated machine. One that takes a great deal of cooperation to screw it up." There's plenty of blame to go around. Borrowers borrowed more than they can afford. Lenders lended more than they should. Legislatures failed to provide adequate oversight into lending practices. Pretty much anybody and everybody who has bought a slice of CDO is also exposed to it.

[KGeary]

The best phrase I've seen is, "The economy is a complicated machine. One that takes a great deal of cooperation to screw it up." There's plenty of blame to go around. Borrowers borrowed more than they can afford. Lenders lended more than they should. Legislatures failed to provide adequate oversight into lending practices. Pretty much anybody and everybody who has bought a slice of CDO is also exposed to it.

And lenders lended more than they should have because of pressure from a certain political party.

Look up "Community Reinvestment Act" on wikipedia.org

Lenders aren't stupid, but they are persuadable when the government tells them they'll back them up no matter what happens.