Congress is now one step closer to uncovering the full scope of the collusion between reckless mortgage lenders and high-ranking government officials that ultimately inflated the U.S. housing bubble and brought the world economy to the brink of total collapse.　 One of the chief offenders in the mortgage meltdown was, doubtlessly, Countrywide Financial, a now-defunct corporate giant that exploited lax government policies to issue trillions of dollars in subprime mortgages on the guarantee that the burden of these toxic assets would ultimately fall on the shoulders of the American taxpayer.

For years, Countrywide’s successful strategy went undetected.　 Profits were good.　 The economy was booming.　 Everybody was happy.