Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/firms-soaring-credit-debt-prompted-federal-rescue Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Unmanageable loans and debt of firms like Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG led to declines in their credibility and the end of growth based on credit. Paul Solman explains how these giants lost control of their finances and why credit plays a central role. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. GWEN IFILL: Next, a closer look at what triggered the dramatic credit crunch that prompted the government's rescue effort. The NewsHour's economics correspondent, Paul Solman, explains. PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent: Anxiously scanning the business pages of NYTimes.com the other day, this headline: "Amid Potential Chaos, a Light-Hearted Break."For those who need a little bit of levity on a tense day, we present some mood music. R.E.M., band (singing): It's the end of the world as we know it… PAUL SOLMAN: So is this the end of the world as we know it? Well, unfortunately, no one can answer that, not even Treasury Secretary Paulson or Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke.It does, however, seem to be the end of an era, an era driven by credit. And that may be the key to understanding what's been happening, that this is a credit crisis.The near-term fate of the financial system is being decided as we speak by global markets, made up of millions of investors, responding second by second to the latest word from Washington, sometimes stampeding in unison and driving down prices of stocks and other assets without meaning to by trying to sell before the other guy.