Agreed. The issue is, at the height of the boom, financiers as well as government oversight entities were turning a blind eye to what was going on. HUD and FHA were given money by the banks to finance these loans that were no good on their face. When it started to collapse, everyone stood there pointing the finger at everyone else. Yes, homeowners were at fault - it was too good to be true, and they should have known it. Yes, banks were at fault - someone making $8/hr flipping burgers at Mac Donald's cannot afford a $175k house. And yes, the government was at fault, because ultimately it was their checks and balances that were modified to let this all transpire, all the while congressmen were smoking cigars and drinking scotch and smiling about how many of their constituents had the "American Dream!" (all rights reserved) of home ownership. Too bad it became a nightmare when they realized that payment was a shitload bigger than they thought and the lease on this apartment is for 30 years. And that $175k house is really only worth $115k and now everyone knows it. So now it's only worth $85k because there are ten more on your street for sale, and now it's only worth $50k since nine of those ten are foreclosed bank sales...