In this video about our current economic crisis [1] (via spin the cat [2]) it's mentioned that legislation passed in 1995, in order to make “mortgages more affordable”, set us up for this major fall.
But just prior to viewing that, I read What (Really) Happened in 1995? [3] (via New Mogul [4]) which stated that in 1995, legislation was passed dropping the fractional reserve that banks have to keep on hand, while at the same time, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan [5] dropped his previous course of setting the interest rate per the price of gold, possibly because another faction of the government was attempting to manipulate the gold market (read the paper, it's absolutely fascinating), thus setting up the entire fiasco we're in now.
Interesting …
I wonder what else happened in 1995 …
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH–o
[2] http://spinthecat.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-did-crisis-happen.html
[3] http://www.signallake.com/innovation/FedReserve1995.pdf
[4] http://www.newmogul.com/item?id=355