[Eric in the Ozarks]

Heritage overlooks the obvious.
The entire fiasco was the result of the Community Reinvestment Act.

[dirtboy]

I really can't blame it all on CRA. CRA laid the foundation, but there were many, many factors beyond CRA that led to the meltdown. Cheap money Fed policies. A widespread notion that systemic risk was a thing of the past. Massive amounts of debt around the globe. Fiscal policies that encourage bubble after bubble. And don't forget CFMA, which exempted Credit Default Swaps from any kind of regulation.

And that's just starting to name all of the culprits. There also are millions of individual culprits, namely folks who bought far more house than they logically could afford - and were enabled by the brain-dead mindset that took over the political, regulatory and financial sectors.

[reefdiver]

Exactly spot on, Morgage Back Securities, and everybody knew they would crash at some point.