By far the best explanation I've heard of the Housing Mortage/Credit Crisis is &8212; improbably &8212; a podcast from the motherlode of story-telling on NPR, This American Life. This podcast is a bit different from their usual slice-o-life stories in that they try to explain something extremely complex and abstract &8212; but in personal stories. The episode is called The Giant Pool of Money and it's worth at least an hour of your time on your next commute. Hearing the agents all along the "chain" of events describe what they [were] thinking in their own words is about 100 times better than reading about it.

Link via Kevin Kelly