In 2008, two big Wall Street firms, or companies that trade money and investments, collapsed. The U.S. economy plunged into “the Great Recession.” That meant the economy was weak and many people lost money. It was the worst financial downturn since the 1930s. In the U.S. alone, 8 million people lost their jobs. Six million people lost their homes. And trillions of dollars in consumer wealth was lost. The financial crisis spread globally. From 2008 to 2012, economies around the world slowed. Unemployment rose. Stock markets fell, and international trade declined. But how did all this happen? Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of several books about Wall Street, explains how the financial crisis came about in a book called “The Big Short.” The New York Times calls it “one of the best business books of the past two decades.” In finance, “to short” an investment means to bet that it will go down in value. There is a person on the other side of the trade who bets that the investment will go up in value. “The Big Short” tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high finance who predict the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else does.