Recall the 9/11 commission that was tasked with finding out what went wrong as the nation blundered the 9/11 catastrophe. The book-length report they issued--which took 20 months and $9 million to produce--went on to become a surprise best-seller. It went a long way toward helping the country understand the attack.

Fortune may be on to something when it suggests that a similar effort is necessary to make sense of the on-going financial crisis. My sense is that despite some great reporting by Bloomberg and others we still haven't gotten the entire story. It may take subpoena power to get it. Right now, no one is really fixed on understanding the roots of the crisis, the need for solutions takes precedence, which makes such an effort all the more necessary. 

For more:
- here's the Fortune article

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