A little background and timeline is in order. The Bush administration, reacting to severe criticism from the right for bailing out Bear when it fails in early 2008, decides not to push Lehman to convert to a bank so that it can be the subject of an FDIC-assisted acquisition. Lehman collapses in a welter of accounting fraud. Its collapse sparks (not causes) a global financial crisis. Fannie and Freddie are also accounting control frauds and fail. AIG would be an accounting control fraud, but the accounting for credit default swaps (CDS) is an open invitation for accounting fraud, so it would be tough to prosecute. (Note to public: the obscene accounting for CDS has not been fixed and is not about to be fixed – seven years later.) Lehman's collapse triggers the world largest and quickest run at the money market mutual funds. Hundreds of financial markets cease to trade as financial entities no longer trust their counterparties' honesty in valuing assets.