In 2009 the business I was working for was practically forced to shut its doors due to the fact that the institutions that back the industry I was in were collapsing.  It was a sad day when I helped the owners prepare all of the accounting reports to prepare them to go to an attorney so that bankruptcy could be filed.  I spent an entire year unemployed until finally I got a temporary position.  After that was up though I was back on the hunt and had to take a retail job and work strange hours just to pay the bills.  

That was just my story though.  It is sad to think about all of the other people who were impacted much greater by the financial crisis in this country.  And now there are reports that the crisis is over or ending, but I have to ask myself if that could be true.  The hole that was dug is incredibly deep, and I am not sure that we have had enough time to pull the economy out of it.  I believe that is a fact supported by the amount of the country’s national debt.

So what is the real deal with the financial crisis and when did it all start to go wrong?  Is it all the fault of Washington?  Take a look for some of the answers below in this infographic.