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The housing bubble bursts from "summary" of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (movie tie-in) by Michael Lewis
In the years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, a dangerous phenomenon was brewing in the housing market. Prices of homes were skyrocketing, fueled by a combination of reckless lending practices and an insatiable demand for mortgage-backed securities. With easy access to credit, many Americans took out loans they could not afford, banking on the assumption that home prices would continue to rise indefinitely. As more and more subprime mortgages were bundled together and sold as securities to investors, the housing bubble swelled to unsustainable levels. The once-stable market became a high-stakes game of speculation, with homeowners, lenders, and investors all betting on the same outcome: that housing prices would never fall. But as the cracks in the system began to show, a few astute individuals saw the writing on the wall. They recognized the inherent flaws in the mortgage market and made risky bets against it, essentially betting that the bubble would burst. These investors were portrayed as outliers, going against the grain of conventional wisdom and challenging the status quo. When the housing bubble finally did burst, it sent shockwaves throughout the financial industry and the global economy. Millions of homeowners found themselves underwater on their mortgages, unable to keep up with their payments as home prices plummeted. Banks and financial institutions that had invested heavily in mortgage-backed securities faced massive losses, leading to a wave of bankruptcies and bailouts. The aftermath of the housing bubble's collapse was a harsh wake-up call for many, exposing the dangers of unchecked greed and speculation. It revealed the fragility of a system built on the shaky foundation of subprime mortgages and risky derivatives. The consequences of the housing bubble bursting were far-reaching, affecting not only those directly involved in the housing market but also millions of ordinary Americans who felt the ripple effects of the financial crisis.
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