Quote Originally Posted by tequila View Post
Wrong. The blame belongs squarely at the top.

The assorted unqualified losers who jumped onto the gravy train at Ameriquest and other assorted mortgage brokers that drove the subprime fiasco and committed fraud on a vast scale did not think this crap up themselves...
... But to vilify them in exclusion to the kingpins who created them, who supplied them, who enabled and protected them --- no way.
That sounds like "I was just following orders."

Blame the guys at the top because they are guilty, but exclude the guys at the bottom because they are guilty? Why not blame both? I don't see why it needs to be one or the other. Focusing the blame on just the fat cats helps to fuel the class warfare angle of the issue, rather than forcing people in this country to come to terms with the fact that most (of all classes) have been living beyond their means. The rich can be catalysts for unethical behavior, but they cannot pull it off themselves. If people placed value upon personal responsibility and ethics, then the rich folks would have had a much tougher time - and maybe more people would have blown the whistle earlier and more would have listened.

The fat cats couldn't have done it without the assorted losers. And the losers couldn't have done it without the fat cats. Focusing all vitriol upon only the fat cats just tells the losers to wait for the next gravy train out of the station and to apply their lessons learned on that next joyride.