ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Global financial crisis in October 2008

Okay, so imagine you have a piggy bank where you keep all your money. Now imagine that people all around the world have their own piggy banks too, but much bigger than yours! They are called "banks" and they hold money for lots of people and companies.

Now, imagine that many of these banks made some bad decisions and loaned money to people who couldn't pay it back. This meant that the banks lost a lot of their own money that they had loaned out.

As a result, the banks couldn't lend as much money to other people and companies who needed it, causing a big problem in the economy. People started losing their jobs, businesses closed, and things became really difficult for a lot of people.

This caused a big crisis in the global financial system, which is like a big web of banks, companies, and people exchanging money around the world. The crisis was so big that it affected many countries and even caused some governments to have to bail out the banks to keep them from collapsing completely.

Overall, the global financial crisis of October 2008 was a difficult time for many people and had a big impact on the world economy.