A Sobering 10 Most Wanted

I'll admit that I'm somewhat out of my league when it comes to understanding what's happened to our credit markets.  It is complicated with a lot of players and took several years to actually reach the critical mass we are at right now.  I've been happily living my middle-class life, not completely oblivious to what was going on (I had a run-in with Countrywide myself!), but pretty darn close to it.  I am a taxpayer and a mortgage owner, so I have a vested interest in how this all plays out.

So, lately, I've been trying to catch what I can on the various news networks, checking out some hits on the internet for a search on "bailout reasons," and conversing with my brother who's better at keeping up with it than I am.  I've been most fascinated by a segment Anderson Cooper's been running for a couple of weeks now on his show 10 pm ET on CNN - Anderson Cooper 360º.    He's been slowly building the "10 Most Wanted Culprits of the Collapse."  It's an impressive list, and extremely educational.  Cooper is actually up to nine as of tonight, but the first six are in the link and I highly recommend you watch the videos. 

Sobering is the word that comes to my mind.  Frightening would be another one.