The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government
and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the
official government report on the United States financial collapse and
the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed,
or would have without help from the government. The commission and the
report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review
and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things,
the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and
analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking
policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and
the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath
of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest
to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around
the world. THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent,
bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to
"examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and
economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of
private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking,
housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and
reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or
would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the
government." News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and
filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's
when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the
economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the
subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo
Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big
to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder
The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at
www.newsdissector.com.
