Yep. As one investor said, "I didn't feel comfortable about the lying" when documents grossly inflated her income. Instead of asking questions or backing out, she signed the docs anyway. Many signed docs w/blank areas or lied about living in the newly purchased home in order to get a mortgage easier. 'The cornerstone was greed' is absolutely correct.
I can muster up a bit of sympathy for those who were led on by their church, but not much. Just because someone says they're a Christian doesn't make them so. Obviously illegal practices such as lying about income should have made these people think twice.
Again what this effectively does is hurt legitimate homeowners and investors, by making financing more difficult for them as destroying the values of their homes (because the fall in value is probably greater and ends up lower than it would have because of the overinflation in the first place) as well as give legitimate investors a bad name with the general public.
There’s a reason that the Seven Deadly Sins have that name.