9-2009 Bloomberg The Lehman Crisis - The Lehman Crisis An...

The Lehman Crisis: An Unhappy Anniversary
In looking at the causes of the panic, Wharton's Jeremy Siegel says the Fed shares some of the blame for
its creation—and most of the credit for keeping things from spiraling out of control
By Jeremy J. Siegel
SPECIAL REPORT
The Meltdown -- One Year Later
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The Flight from Risk
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The Lehman Crisis: An Unhappy Anniversary
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Lehman's Fall: The What-Ifs Linger
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Survival Stories and Lessons from the Crash
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Wall Street's Shifting Job Landscape
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Video: Former Lehman Employees on Lehman
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Slide Show: From Finance to Franchise
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How Banks Should Manage Risk
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Paulson's Decision Cost Lehman, Then the World
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Stocks: The Real Post-Meltdown Victors
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Slide Show: The Faces of the Lehman Crisis
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Timeline: Lehman's Trail of Tears
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Table: Financial Benchmarks in the Past Year
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Poll: Was Letting Lehman Fail the Right Thing?
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Archive: Seven Days That Shook Wall Street
One year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the causes of the financial crisis have come into focus, and the
impact of government policies can be assessed. There's plenty of blame to go around—but we should also note
the actions that saved the world's economies from a far greater calamity.
The roots of the crisis, of course, lay in the real-estate frenzy of the early 2000s. At the peak of the housing
boom, major financial institutions were seriously overleveraged in real estate and real-estate related assets.