15 Things You Need to Know About the Panic of 2008

Found an article over on Kiplinger.com that discussed the events that led up to the current financial panic, starting in about 2000 or so. It covers subprime mortgages, how they "infected" so much of the market, and what caused all of the defaulting on those loans:

http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2008/09/how_the_financial_crisis_started.html

Enjoy!