The sub-prime mortgage crisis was only the beginning: a more profound economic and political restructuring was on the way. The astronomical leverage at investment banks with their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guaranteed massive disruption in global markets. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy came crashing down with it. Continued denial and concealment caused the crisis to stretch out for years, but financial and government leaders still downplayed the problem. In The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Charles R. Morris shows how we got into that mess, explaining the arcane financial instruments, the chicanery, the policy misjudgments, the dogmas, and the delusions that created the greatest credit bubble in world history.