The 2008 Financial Crisis and the Real-Life “Big Short” | 60 Minutes Full Episodes
In this compelling episode of 60 Minutes, we delve into the heart of the 2008 Financial Crisis, exploring the complex web of events that led to one of the most tumultuous economic downturns in history. From the outset, Steve Kroft investigates the U.S. sub-prime mortgage meltdown, revealing the risky financial behaviors that set the stage for disaster.
The episode features a multi-part exploration of critical concepts such as the financial instruments that fueled the crisis, including credit default swaps, which played a pivotal role in the unfolding chaos. Kroft’s insightful interviews shed light on the perspectives of key players, including Michael Lewis, whose bestselling book “The Big Short” exposes the stark contrast between those who profited from the crisis and the countless Americans left in its wake.
Additional segments include powerful testimonies from banking insiders on the government’s intervention to rescue major financial institutions, and a closer look at the emotional and economic toll on ordinary citizens impacted by the crisis—such as the residents of Wilmington, Ohio, and Newton, Iowa.
This in-depth report is a poignant reminder of the fragility of the financial system and the lasting effects of the crisis that rocked the nation. Join us as we unpack the layers of this epic disaster and understand its lessons through the lens of investigative journalism that has made 60 Minutes an enduring pillar of American media.
Tune in for a comprehensive review of the events that reshaped the financial landscape and continue to influence economic discourse today. Don’t forget to subscribe for more hard-hitting investigations and in-depth stories!
Watch the video by 60 Minutes
About 60 Minutes
“60 Minutes,” the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen’s Top 10.
Video “The 2008 Financial Crisis and the Real-Life “Big Short” | 60 Minutes Full Episodes” was uploaded on 11/15/2025 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes



































Homes, student loans, credit cards, car payments. People borrow and then balk at the terms. It takes discipline to sit down, go over details, do the MATH. And our country is now built on debt. None of these home owners really sound bright enough to have really thought it through. A good rule of thumb is, if it sounds too good to be true, it most definitely is that, and should be considered very carefully.
They don't want the house when it loses value. Idiots.
60 minutes suks !
Bunch of lying goons !!
Lmfao 🤣
Nicve report, but the implied thesis is incorrect. People purchased houses because Wall Street needed more mortgages to securitize, this pushed prices up, causing buyers to think they would have no issue re-writing the mortgage 5 years later. WALL STREET caused this, not unsophisticated buyers. The blaming of consumers AS USUAL, turns out to be dead wrong.
Mine
man that DHL part really made me sad and cry, hope everyone is better off now
The guy with the glasses is evil 😈
Derivatives is buying futures not good and shorting bad and loans bad
Waiting for the next recession. My cash is ready this time
Boy between this and Madoff. Many govt agencies asleep at the switch…
When somebody pays $355,000.00 for a two-bedroom home that is worth, maybe, $150,000….
This guy at 25:30 is chasing his tail trying to lie and get out of this. the first thing anyone knows "doubling an interest rate will shock the human pocket" on top of building at a rapid rate. White collar crime is overlooked extremely in this country.
[ Goodmorning SIL-Q1💜 The Kingdom of the Netherlands💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗 ]
And the pandemic made things skyrocket………time not timing
Looking back at all of this all they had to do was nothing. All those house are worth 400% more today and would have been paid off.
25:00 LOOOOOOL
Hard to trust anything out of 60 minutes these days
i was there for all of this, first as a subprime borrower in 2002, and as mortgage counselor from 2005 to 2010, helped document and get a few small fish jailed for origination fraud, later as a borrower who was able to complete a HAMP Tier 2 loan mod recipient. I am still in that over 100 yr old house that should never been underwritten but its all we had. And now, we are starting to see new messed up equity grabs beginning to churn again. Way too easy to get HELOCS and HELOC/credit card hybrids, loans that allow borrowing for personal loans-not only for car titles but property liens and all the potential time bombs. Once those take hold, with private equity in play, again, it will get worse and worse. This is a grimy business, unimaginably grimy.
I don't know about you guys but all of this makes me want to become a banker. Make all kinds of money.
Usa people imagine if neel india man not going today office then 800 billion gone crash just few minutes 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I'm in tears as I watch these stories. It's always the "little guys" that pay the price for CEO's hubris. The amount of compensation CEOs get is absolutely ridiculous. I wish I had Elon Musk's money and could bail out some of these small businesses and towns.
The idea that you can take my loan, rename it, give it an imaginable value, trade with it and bet on or against it without actually having it is absurd.
Back when you trusted 60 minutes to give honest reporting. Not hiding stories from Americans to please the Government
I understand why people made decisions but I don't want any crying saying you didn't understand what you were signing. That's on you unless there was fraud of some sort. Lot's of blame to go around here. Start with Congress, bankers, and yes, homeowners.
My home value is dropping, im not paying… what a pos
And Trump wants to make 50 years home mortgage 😂😂😂😂
This late capitalism trick is what has brought the current state of affairs we live in today. The richer just got richer by rigging the system, they defaulted and got bailed out, got their millionaire bonuses, and kept business as usual. Meanwhile the common people suffered because of the greed of these crooks. I can't believe a revolution did not start from this massive pillage.
@35:07 brother… just take it off. It's gone…
Michael Barry is a scoundrel. He enriched himself on the backs of his fellow citizens. Shameful. Talk about greed.
The heartless ❤️ just can't help themselves.
Except to win.
Up against Wall Street With A Blind Fold And 💥🕳️💥🕳️💥🕳️💥🕳️🤯😵👍🆗..
Imagine graduating out of high school and the economy collapses?
This was many of our fates in 2007-2008, it totally threw off my projectory, unfortunately.
I had a college scholarship but had to work to help the family n couldn't balance both – had to work more and school took a loss. 💔
After 2 semesters of not doing well, you lose the scholarship, even with a financial crisis in the country. 🙁
That big of an island increase the 1st couple should have declined.
8 years of Obama, how did that change treat you?
I get that lenders behaved poorly but these people are a joke. What do you mean you didn’t view a loan as you having to pay it? That’s not how life works lmao
Most of these financial management institutions act this way because they know they are too big to fail. Privatized profits and socialized losses. So us rubes, the middle class tax payers, will lose twice.
Trust the educated people? It’s the greedy educated, that brought this about AND those responsible, don’t care.
I bought three bank owned houses, in Saginaw Michigan, two duplexes and one two-story house on a double lot, for around $23K, TOTAL, as a result of the 2008 bust. Now they provide me with good income to never have to worry about money again. I do, however, have four other streams of income as well.
I'm going to be buying another investment property this year.
Someone care to explain to me the difference between 'prosecutable' and 'illegal' – maybe I'm just dumb.
Gave loans to people who couldnt afford them. It was not going to end well.
And that's the crux of it. The Banks offer to lend you money when you DON'T need it and REFUSE you when you are in need. So what has changed? The massive bailouts of the Banks! Greed and avarice forcing Banks to get bailed out if they want to survive and still receive their massive Bonuses, protected by those that make the Laws and run the politics while the "little man" sinks and drowns in man-made financial floods that could have been prevented. Maybe the extreme left wok-ism craziness that some people say Bernie Sanders represents and now Mamdani, is the only solution.
No show like 60 Minutes
Every one said the housing boom after COVID would crash. Insanely it never did. I ended up buying a home for 460k that would of cost 250k pre-COVID. That hurts my soul…
Crazy part is the people crying about it also voluntarily agreed to purchasing a ridiculously priced home with a ridiculously high mortgage.
Woooow watching this has me shaking my head… I am shocked how the most powerful country in the world could let this happen.