While the name being tagged to the financial crisis being 2008, it certainly did not end in 2008.
At this point of time in May 2009, the global economy is still experiencing a rather servere recession and it remains to be seen if a quick recovery is on the table or it will turn out to be another "Lost Decade" similar to what Japan has experienced in the 90's.

Below is a link to an animated illustration of how the current financial crisis developed.

This should give you a pretty good basic understanding of how we arrive at the current situation.

Click on this link to launch the "Credit Squeeze Explained" interactive presentation.