If you find yourself befuddled by terms such as “credit default swaps” and you want to learn more about what caused this economic quagmire in which we find ourselves, watch this video.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Good stuff. Two things I think are really funny about this: (a) the girth of the portly investment bankers, and (b) the multiple, small, crying children and the cigarettes associated with the recipients of subprime mortgages.

This is a good (but hardly comprehensive) overview of what all happened to land us into this current mess. It does fail to mention the Community Reinvestment Act and the role it played in encouraging and even demanding that banks make riskier and riskier home loans in the name of “affordable housing.” Overall, though, I think this is worth watching to gain a basic understanding of the credit crisis.