Here's a broadcast done by some folks from NPR, attempting to explain the banking crisis in real people terms. Most of the babble I hear on the news almost seems specifically designed to keep people from figuring out what is actually going on in all this crap, so it's nice to have an useful explanation that isn't aimed solely at bankers. :P
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1285