This event will address the problems and improvements needed for student loans, beginning with a keynote presentation by former secretary of education Bill Bennett.

Most people know virtually no financial history, so when we have a financial crisis, it seems like it has never happened before. But it has, again and again. As Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, remarked: "About every ten years, we have the biggest crisis in 50 years." 

The latest public opinion data on several topics in the news.

Secretary Geithner argued that we have forgotten the reasons that the Dodd-Frank Act was necessary, and that's why the act has become so controversial. What the secretary seems to have missed is that we have learned a lot in the intervening years. The administration's rush to judgment on the financial crisis is a case study in why it would have been worthwhile to wait for the facts.

When the bubble deflated in 2007, an unprecedented number of weak mortgages went into default - those that were held or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie, and those that had been securitized by Wall Street. This drove down housing prices and threw Fannie and Freddie into insolvency. 

Europe's banks and entire monetary system are in crisis from the sovereign debt of financially weak governments.  But the capital requirement for banks to hold such Euro denominated debt was zero.  It was defined as "risk free," but has instead led to massive losses.

Leveraged bets as high as 30 to 1 on risky investments with little equity cushion against potential losses is what helped bring down the likes of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Think it can't happen again? It's about to—with the Federal Housing Administration.