危机的起因是私人部门过度负债和过高杠杆率，随着危机和衰退削弱财政状况，随着大部分私人亏损经由金融体系脱身计划而被摊派给全社会，私人债务危机演变为公共债务和公共赤字危机。
The crisis started with too much private debt and leverage, which became public debt and deficits as crisis and recession triggered fiscal deterioration and private losses were mostly socialized via bailouts of financial systems.