The 2008 "Super Bubble," which is what they were calling it back then, was widely described as having three fundamental factors. Massive credit availability, massive demand for credit, and "financial innovation."
Credit availability and demand for this credit has not disappeared. But the "financial innovation" side had to adapt. Here, we will investigate what new innovations have been invented.
Source: NASA; Hubble Sees a Star ‘Inflating’ a Giant Financial Bubble
In 2008, the specific financial innovation being sold at the time was "Mortgage Backed Securities." They were largely unregulated and overrated by private rating corporations.
They were in the spotlight during the initial phases of the housing crisis. In simple terms, they were "toxic" assets embedded into highly rated investment vehicles.
Once the collapse was eminent, the value of these investment vehicles were called into question, which caused a domino effect into every sector of the economy.
It would be foolish to think the root cause went away after the problem was discovered. The demand and availability of credit has only amplified since that time, except for tiny "just for show" concessions every so often.
So what are the latest financial innovations currently in use to capture the markets?
The latest innovation is called "Mortgage Backed Securities". That's right, it's the same thing that caused the 2008 "Super Bubble." The problem has not been corrected. It's just bigger and more accelerated in this go around.