A real estate crisis known as the subprime mortgage crisis broke out in the United States in the summer of 2007. It shook the global banking system, leading to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and many other financial institutions. How did this crisis originate, and how did it come to affect banking and stock market systems worldwide? The subject of this book straddles the real estate market, the money market and the economy as a whole. So many areas on which the well-being of the men and women who inhabit this world depends. The era of globalization that we live in has sealed a common destiny where the actions of some in a given country impact the lives of others elsewhere in the world. It is therefore important to understand the phenomena occurring in other parts of the world, and in other spheres of decision and action, to know how they impact, or will impact, our lives. Through this book, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the crisis that shook the world of finance in the summer of 2007.