The complicated nature of the sub-prime mortgage debacle -- and subsequent financial meltdown -- seems to have overwhelmed the average American in its size, scope and complexity. As the stability of the market is largely contingent upon the psychology of market participants, a public who fully understands the nature of the crisis is critical to the success of sustainably rebuilding the economy.

People's need to fully comprehend the series of events that brought us here has created myriad narratives, both audio and visual; I'd like to highlight one of my personal favorites here, as a demonstration of the power of simplicity.

The following 4-minute video short explains the financial crisis with simple, well-planned visuals; the company who delivered this content, XPlane, is based out of Portland, Oregon. They call themselves "a visually thinking company", one that distills complex ideas into organized, easy-to-understand illustrations. Sounds basic, but when you watch the clip, you'll be amazed that something so complex could actually be covered in less than four minutes.

Editors note: The clip only covers the time period leading up to the bailout, so some viewers may be left with a bit of "well, what next?" feeling. If you're one of those viewers, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it