What caused the credit meltdown?

A new book details what one scholar believes caused the credit crunch. John Taylor, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of economics at Stanford, tackles this question in a slender book called Getting Off Track.

According to the author, "The classic explanation of financial crises, Taylor observes, is that they are caused by excesses that lead to a boom and an inevitable bust. In this case, 'we had a housing boom and bust, which in turn led to financial turmoil in the United States and other countries.'"