If our current economic situation can teach us anything, it's that we really can't carry on in personal finance or business (or politics, for that matter) without keeping our wits about us.

To that end, check out this great 11-minute video by Jonathan Jarvis that explains leveraging, credit default swaps and how we got to this point, offering a clear picture of the origins of the mortgage crisis.

Jarvis, a grad student in the Media Design Program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, produced this video short "as part of my broader thesis work exploring the use of new media to make sense of an increasingly complex world," he says. His Web site is here.