
Glenn Greenwald does a nice job of summarizing the absurdities of the process...
Aftermath by Daniel Larison
Listen to the linked podcast from This American Life, it is a real hoot! "... Producer Alex Blumberg teams up with NPR's Adam Davidson for the entire hour to tell the story—the surprisingly entertaining story—of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis. They talk to people who were actually working in the housing, banking, finance and mortgage industries, about what they thought during the boom times, and why the bust happened. And they explain that a lot of it has to do with the giant global pool of money..."
The Giant Pool of Money