"There's 2x as much $ looking for investments, but there are not 2x as many good investments."

[chupacabranation]

"So, that global army of investment managers was hungrier and twitchier than before..."

FANTASTIC 'This American Life' segment. A great read for the layman, or someone looking to explain to the layman.

http://www.thislife.org/extras/radio/355_transcript.pdf

[sixmile]

1. I've heard the same from wealthy friends

I believe there is much more money out there than anyone realizes. The problem is finding a safe haven to park it.
Hedge funds and private money managers now control trillions of $'s but they're not willing to invest in negative yielding government instruments or collapsing derivatives or shaky stock markets.
The financial crisis could be solved by a few families, if they were so inclined. But, alas, they are not.