The deleveraging – unwinding from debt – that is currently sending the U.S. financial markets reeling is but a symptom of the root problem in our economy. The sub-prime mortgage crisis that began in August 2007 was the starting point of a downward spiral in the United States’ economy. The repercussions of the sub-prime crisis shook many commercial banks, but investment banks were traumatized. Bear Stearns was the first investment bank that needed a financial rescue due to liq