Star and flagged, thank you Power_Semi. I always wondered why the situation became so urgent over night. This sums that up very nicely.
Obsidience
Around the world, banks must comply with what are known as Basel II regulations. These regulations determine how much capital a bank must maintain in reserve. The rules are based on the quality of the bank's loan book. The riskier the loans a bank owns, the more capital it must keep in reserve. Bank managers naturally seek to employ as much leverage as they can, especially when interest rates are low, to maximize profits. AIG appeared to offer banks a way to get around the Basel rules, via unregulated insurance contracts, known as credit default swaps.
Let us hope that those who perpetrated this financial legerdemain receive their just deserts.
I wonder ultimately what would happen if all the banks DID fail. Who would then possess the land and wield authority to foreclose/repossess it?