The path that led to the supercharged private mortgage industry of the early 2000s was twisted, but it too goes back to the breakdown of Bretton Woods in the 1970s and the unfettering of currencies, prices, interest rates and capital movements that followed. It was not just the savings and loans but the entire financial sector that was forced to rethink its business model, and this went for the investment banks of Wall Street as much as for the commercial banks.
