As events recede into the past, we usually gain perspective. Time provides an opportunity to reflect, gather more information, consider other viewpoints, get a fuller picture. Yet five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings, there is little sense of closure about the greatest financial crisis to hit developed markets in most people's living memory. The causes of the crisis seem clear enough. Homeowners and lenders pushed mortgage rules past the breaking point in a bid to maintain living standards and short-term profits. Banks levered themselves to the hilt, convinced they could finance any position in the money markets. Regulators, led by the Federal Reserve, lulled themselves into complacency, confident that if they fostered a low-inflation environment, markets could sort things out by themselves.
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