14 year ago, the world's financial system came to the brink of collapse. Central banks scrambled to react. Businesses shuttered. People lost their homes. Many governments fell. Faith in our institutions shattered. The Occupy movement was launched. So was Bitcoin. 1/
What brought on the Great Financial Crisis? The "shadow banking system" - a system of unregulated financial activities that are just like their regulated cousins, except that they're, well, *unregulated*. 2/
The GFC was precipitated by "financial innovation": new tricks that allowed traditional financial activities to take place while evading the controls instituted to head off the kinds of systemic collapses that plagued nations for centuries. 3/
The Real Estate Investment Trust is (#REIT) a sixties-era tax shelter designed to allow mom-and-pop investors to buy into income properties. REITs are exempt from corporate tax, but they're also prohibited from managing the buildings they own. 1/
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Banning REITs from management roles was supposed to scare off rich people looking for a tax break and keep REITs firmly in the realm of the "little guy." 3/