“Everybody in a position of authority was making big money and believed there would be no consequences for screwing up.”
That’s right. The guys at the top didn’t want to hear any negativity from their risk officers, the size of the money coming in overwhelmed their good sense.
I read a couple of books on the mortgage “crisis”.
California: high school dropouts working in a car wash were given three days of training and became mortgage brokers making 10 grand a month.