Bevo, people blame the banks and Wall Street because the banks and Wall Street created the risk that has now backfired and did so to personally profit from it. Yes people overextended themselves beyond their reach. But many of these people did not have the education required to understand the risk. What they had was a little bit of cash and a lot of a sharp tongued banking salesman selling what that banker knew they could not afford. Do you think that salesman cared at all once the deal was done whether that person could make the payments? No, they only wanted the Commission off the deal signed today. Banks created the complex derivatives that enticed the appetites of hedge funds because money could be made off peddling this garbage to these funds. Wall Street compensation skyrocketed out of control during this period of irresponsibility and it was because Wall Street sold risk to personally profit. Proof is in the charts that present the average wage earners rate of change in income to that of a Wall Street professional. Wall Street was profiting directly from the irresponsible acts and were setting up the rest of the working class for a hard fall. You can blame this on Wall Street because this is their home turf (finances) and above all others they shoudl have recognized the risks. Bottom line, you can't have a drug overdose without the drug being brought to the party? Wall Street brought the drug to the party and convinced the party goers that there was no harm in taking it.
" But many of these people did not have the education required to understand the risk" Really? Why have I spent 100's of billions funding the school system then? More money down the drain. 2 dumb to figure out a scam, but not too dumb to deserve a house, huh.