Everyone is to blame, Americans living like they were all millionaires. Buying BMW and Mercedes SUV's like they were going out of style, building 5,000 sq foot McMansions they could never afford. Maxing out all 5 credit cards to the tune of $125,000 and making minimum payments on all of them. Perpetual unending debt, until they turn 60 and realize they only have $50,000 socked away for retirement. Basically the American consumer is the one to blame, they signed on for those sub prime and Alt A mortgages. People buying things they wanted, instead of only the things they needed. Sure Greenspan lobbied congress heavily until they relented and let debt be securitized, once it could be sold off then the banks were not worried about whether the consumer could pay or not as they no longer owned the loans, investors did. Since there was no risk they would give anyone who could fog a mirror a nice low rate loan so they could afford to live in Beverly Hills on a $30,000 a year income.