Foreseeing Armageddon: Could AI have predicted the Financial Crisis?

The Global Financial Crisis (hereafter, GFC) of 2007–2008 had far reaching financial and legal consequences, affecting millions of livelihoods. Sparked by the proliferation of subprime mortgages and exemplified by fall of Lehman Brothers, it's aftershocks were widely felt around the world. Following a period of recovery and growth, the world plunged into the European Sovereign Debt Crisis (hereafter, ESDC) beginning in late 2009, the effects of which have been argued to be still ongoing today. As global markets tend to operate in a cyclical fashion, scenario planning for the next financial crisis is not a matter of if, but when. Indeed, a Google search would lead to hundreds of differing opinions on the matter, from conclusions based on quantitative metrics to others based on the prophecies of Nostrodamus.