MSN Money presents an overview of the ups and downs (mostly downs) of a decade of Wall Street hubris. They lied, they cheated, they traded their way to wealth and glory while the economy collapsed—and they’re still at it. In this article, MSN chronicles the most egregious offenses committed in the name of Mammon, with the help of author Les Leopold (The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It).

There was hubris all around the real-estate market until that bubble burst.

Start with the homebuyers who traded up to homes they really couldn’t afford and the mortgage industry that reaped big fees from egging them on.

Then look at the magicians at big Wall Street banks like Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns who bundled home loans, repackaged them as mortgaged-backed securities, then spun out risky collateralized debt obligations. Abracadabra: High-risk loans became low-risk debt.

“These were our superstars,” says Les Leopold, the author of “The Looting of America.” But “it all turned out to be a fantasy. . . . The underlying assets were not profitable enough to support this upside-down pyramid.”

Of course, don’t forget the guys who ran banks that were supposedly too big to fail and who met the crisis with a “What, me worry?” attitude.

Bear Stearns Chairman and CEO James Cayne was at a bridge tournament when two of his bank’s hedge funds imploded because of dodgy credit instruments in 2007 — and again in March 2008 while Bear flirted with bankruptcy. JPMorgan Chase (JPM, news, msgs) bought it out at fire-sale prices.

In early 2008, as the crunch hit Merrill Lynch, new CEO John Thain spent $1.2 million of company money to refurbish his office. Outlays included $87,000 for an area rug, $37,000 for six chairs in a private dining room and $35,000 for something called a “commode on legs.”

Read the whole article here.

Related Articles:

• WATCH: Senator Sanders Tackles Too-Big-to-Fail: “Break ‘em Up”
• The Financial Crisis Explained: Les Leopold on Coast to Coast AM
• How Wall Street Won the War on Main Street

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