After every great crisis, a simple question arises: Who knew?

Lewis Ranieri, who pioneered mortgage backed securities when he worked at Salomon Brothers in the late 1970s and more recently warned against their misuse, is the latest victim of the nation’s housing crisis.

Using expert consultants is common in business and government. SEC Inspector General David Kotz used one in his report that slams the agency for missing numerous red flags that foreshadowed the collapse of Bear Stearns.

Despite hard times, or maybe because of hard times, Fortress Investment Group has just awarded $300 million in shares to retain one of its traders.

Until a few weeks ago, it’s likely that many people would have guessed that Freddie Mac was comedian Bernie Mac’s younger brother.

Federal regulators closed IndyMac Bank Friday afternoon and transferred operation to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

To say IndyMac CEO Michael Perry is in a tough spot is an understatement. He might be on a mission impossible.

You might view Philip Milne as one of the many casualties of the current financial crunch, another top exec who lost his job because of his company’s disastrous investments in subprime mortgages.

History won’t be kind to Angelo Mozilo, the founder of Countrywide Financial whose shareholders approved the company’s sale to Bank of America yesterday. His is a great American success story, but a tragedy, too.

Washington Mutual shareholders approved a $7 billion infusion from TPG and other investors yesterday, thereby blessing — they had little choice — the return of Texas deal maker David Bonderman to the company’s board of directors. The decision came on a day when WaMu stock hit a 16-year low.

North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad is perhaps the most unusual of the so-called Friends of Angelo, who received favorable mortgage rates and VIP treatment from Countrywide Financial and its boss, Angelo Mozilo.

A bad year for homeowners meant a good year for John A. Paulson. Paulson, the founder and president of the hedge fund Paulson & Company, made $3.7 billion last year, according to an annual listing of the 50 most highly paid hedge fund managers.

Washington Mutual said it won a victory Monday in one legal battle, but its legal war is far from over.

Racing against the clock, JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy once-mighty Bear Stearns for just $2 a share Sunday, “in a fire sale deal clearly aimed at stemming broader panic” in the global markets, according Tom Petruno of The Los Angeles Times.

Some might call it good timing for Anne V. Farrell, who is leaving the Washington Mutual board of directors because she has reached the mandatory retirement age of 72. Washington Mutual, the embattled Seattle lender, is facing lawsuits, more big lending losses, and is the subject of takeover speculation.

Bear Stearns, drowning in debt from its mortgage-related investments, received a lifeline yesterday from the Federal Reserve of New York.

Acting through JPMorgan Chase, the fed provided a line of credit to keep the bank solvent.

Countrywide Financial reported Friday that its mortgage foreclosure rate doubled last month compared to a year ago.

That prompted the Charlotte Business Journal to ask Bank of America if it was going forward with its roughly $4 billion stock deal to acquire Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender.

Troubled Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, has seen its stock price nearly double from its lows over the past month. Takeover speculation has certainly helped, as have the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.

But don’t discount the importance of the message chairman and CEO Kerry Killinger sent when he decided not to take a 2007 bonus that he had earned. Executives at other companies caught in the real estate mess — Countywide Financial and D.R. Horton, for example — have not set the same example of accountability.

Countrywide Financial is being swallowed by Bank of America, but don’t cry for Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s embattled CEO.

The butcher’s son from the Bronx who founded Countrywide in 1969 could walk away from the deal with $70 million or so, according to The New York Times.

Difficult times for a company mean difficult times for its board of directors.

And these certainly are difficult times for Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan.

Because of losses related to subprime mortgage lending, the Seattle-based firm has closed operations, cut jobs, slashed its dividend, and watched the price of its stock plummet to its lowest level in more than 11 years, closing Friday at $13.07.