It boils down to greed - on many levels of society. Everyone tried to get a piece of the pie. The American Taxpayer is left holding the bag.
The criminality involved in the whole housing meltdown is mind boggling.
Greed is as dangerous, destructive and evil as sloth.
Well, I'm one of the many suckers that got stuck holding the bag for a piece of the pie I never went after. I've owned the same house (my first and only) for 24 years.
Just over three years ago I almost moved for a job change but didn't want to buy into a badly inflated market (NYC). I got an apartment and commuted back every 2-3 weeks. My landlord was a real estate agent who was telling me how bad the market was starting to get. The more I looked the more I realized buying a new house was foolish no matter how good an interest rate I could get. Now I telecommute full time and couldn't be happier I stayed where I was. I refused to get sucked in but still get stuck paying the bill.