The Final Report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is a fascinating history of the Great Crash of 2008. Join us as FDL’s Ed Walker hosts a special FDL Book Salon chat with Commissioner Byron Georgiou about the FCIC’s findings.

The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case grinds along. Their financials sucked, it’s JPMorgan’s fault, and they screwed thousands of Hong Kong residents. No one is responsible for anything.

The SEC suit against Goldman Sachs makes it clear that credit default swaps made the Great Crash worse than it should have been. Now it’s time to impose serious regulation on these time bombs, regardless of what it does to JPMorgan Chase’s ability to coin money.

Lloyd Blankfein says that Goldman Sachs was just a market maker, trying to accommodate its customers. The SEC says it tried to accommodate some more than others.

Goldman Sachs says it didn’t bet against its customers in subprime mortgages. I guess it depends on what they mean by customer, and what they mean by market maker. It says it acted properly in its dealings with AIG. I guess it depends on what they mean by “properly”.

Brooksley Born wants to know the effect of credit default swaps on the housing bubble and the Great Crash. Citibank representatives don’t think there was an effect. Yves Smith disagrees.