00:00What happens when banks bet billions of dollars on a market they think can't fail?
00:05Well, the 2008 housing crash showed the world just how risky that bet was.
00:09In the early 2000s, bank and investors poured billions into mortgage-backed securities
00:13and collateralized debt obligations linked to home loans.
00:16With housing prices on the rise, these investments appeared foolproof,
00:19leading to increasingly lax lending standards as mortgage lenders approved high-risk loans to meet demand.
00:25The housing boom fueled profits on Wall Street and skyrocketed property value across the country.
00:31But in 2007, the market took a sharp turn as home prices began to fall, triggering a wave of mortgage defaults.
00:37The value of MBS and CDOs plummeted, leaving financial institutions with massive losses.
00:43Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street giant holding $600 billion in assets, collapsed,
00:47sending shockwaves through the global economy.
00:49Governments around the world intervened with bailouts,
00:52including the $700 billion U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program, to prevent further financial fallout.
00:57The crisis led to unemployment levels of 10% in the U.S. and wiped out nearly $10 trillion in global market value.
01:03In response to all this, sweeping regulatory changes were implemented,
01:07such as the Dode-Frank Act, which introduced the Volcker Rule,
01:10to restrict banks from making risky bets with depositor funds,
01:13and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect against predatory lending practices.
01:18The 2008 financial crisis remains a reminder of how overconfidence in the unstoppable market
01:24can lead to global economic disaster.
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