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<p>Uhh, sorry - but it was the weakening of regulations and oversight led by none other than McCain’s (former) economics “guru” Phil Gramm that set the conditions for this mess, as well as others.</p>
<p>Gramm was the point man in doing away w/ many of the Glass-Steagall protections as well as severely weakening regulations over commodity futures (including the “Enron loophole” and making it much easier for firms to leverage themselves out the whazoo via “swaps”).</p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that Gramm’s wife was a board member of Enron and that he was a Vice-Chairman of UBS.</p>
<p>The subprime disaster, the Enron mess and the oil bubble all arose out of the deregulation spearheaded by Gramm.</p>
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<p>Actually the whole Fannie and Freddie mess is the end part of the fiasco and not what created the problem (while I have my issues w/ Fannie/Freddie - they wouldn’t have been in trouble if the mortgages they bought were on the “up and up”).</p>
<p>Plus, it’s not just Fannie and Freddie, but commercial banks, i-banks, insurance companies, etc. (I guess according to you, Fannie/Freddie were responsible for bringing them down as well).</p>
<p>Besides, you seem to forget to mention that it was Obama who warned about the subprime mess in 2006 and introduced legislation to halt the shady practices dealing w/ mortgages.</p>