What all is proteced in bankruptcy in TX? If you are being sued, how much cash can you keep after bankruptcy?

My family, along with their company, is being sued for nearly $2M. We, along with the company, will have to file for bankruptcy. Does bankruptcy protect some of our cash to live on, and what assets do courts typically expect to be sold off to pay the lawsuit assuming all other debts are paid?

What caused home mortgage rates to skyrocket?

The recession was caused by people being unable to pay back their home mortgages because the mortgage rates were too high?

Banks were not getting their money back from home owners, causing a credit crunch, thus they were unable to lend money to big businesses.

Big businesses then had to cut back on expenses and began to lay people off the the thousands.

So what caused the mortgage rates to go up so high that started this financial mess in the first place?