Quote from mahram:
I dont understand why americans can't admit that they messed up the whole world economy? You have people on air going, we didnt do this. Then when you talk to them on what caused it, they go subprime, derivitives by american banks and consumers. Is it just plain denial. I dont know why people cant just fess up to thier mistakes. It kind of reminds me of how cnn got the senator on his lie, but even those he was caught, he couldnt fess it.
The populace of we Americans are far down the list of "reasons" for this mess.
Sure, a percentage of Americans who could not get a loan for a home before were [falsely] given eligibility when they shouldn't have been... but those people always WANTED a home.. "the American dream" sort of thing.
Then there were those who understood finances and bought multiple houses for investments and flipping... but they never should have been allowed to do so with little or no money down.
Those really responsible were (1) GREEDY American politicians for making such loans not only possible, but MANDATORY in many cases, (2) GREEDY banks for irresponsible underwriting of mortgage banks (because they knew they could offload the mortgage to Freddie and Fannie... and they knew THAT because GREEDY politicians arranged for Freddie and Fannie to by EVERYTHING in the way of home mortgages, quality or not), (3) GREEDY Investment Banks for devising the Credit Default Swaps where no one was required to reserve to honor obligations if called upon... BUT they never would have been able to develop CDSs without #1 and #2 above, and (4) Alan GreenScam and the Fed for facilitating much of it with irresponsible money-pump and irresponsibly holding rates very low for way too long... thus creating a "carry trade" where there was even no currency risk. (This facilitated the perception of "the perfect investment"... higher than other current yields and INSURED against default... or so they thought... and so the GREEDY financial world LEVERED THE BEJESUS out of the situation.)
Without all of the above, the "average American" wouldn't have messed up anything and we'd have none of these problems facing the financial world today.
The amount of damage caused by unsophisticated Americans who were falsely given sub-prime mortgages and then defaulted on them is perhaps only 1/100th of the total damage.
So.... those responsible are Americans... a relative handful of us... and they are slimy enough to not only NEVER admit it and claim responsibility, but who also LIE AND DECEIVE ROUTINELY in their normal course of doing business.