Was it really the amount of risk taken in the past few years that triggered the financial crisis, or might it be the type of risks taken that are the real culprits? Perhaps, a simple case of too many eggs in one basket for too long? Yes, banks kept piling on debt securities from residential and commercial mortgages based on a model that had value increasing in perpetuity. Yes, hypermarkets... moreWas it really the amount of risk taken in the past few years that triggered the financial crisis, or might it be the type of risks taken that are the real culprits? Perhaps, a simple case of too many eggs in one basket for too long? Yes, banks kept piling on debt securities from residential and commercial mortgages based on a model that had value increasing in perpetuity. Yes, hypermarkets such as CDX/CDS were created without anyone taking the initiative to add them all up and see if the insurance sold was actually more than the companies were worth. Yes, Investment Banks were allowed to leverage up to levels that had never before been implemented. But to me, that says that we took too much of those particular kinds of risks for too long and did not scrutinize the underlying assumptions nearly view page