Damian Paletta

And so I think that made him scrappier and, you know, work harder.

And so instead he had to kind of forge a different path.

And for him, that path would lead him to be chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which was an incredibly powerful committee.

Where did he get all this finance and banking chops?

Where did he learn all this stuff?

He's a really smart guy.

He would always show up at every committee hearing.

He would ask really good questions.

And I think as time went on and the more and more banks and securities firms would come to brief him on their issues, he was learn and learn and learn.

And obviously, Boston, there's some major financial institutions in Boston.

And they always had access to him.

And so Barney Frank always knew who to reach out to and who to ask information about some of these issues so that when really push came to shove, he knew exactly where to zero in.

Well, early 2008, we have Bear Stearns.

And then it's sort of a domino effect.

So in the summer, we have Fannie and Freddie.

Then we have Lehman Brothers.

Then, you know, Washington Mutual.

And then all hell breaks loose.

And so the financial crisis kind of picked up momentum.

It's like one of those snowballs in a cartoon going down a hill where soon it's like, oh, my gosh, this is out of control.