<p>I agree with you on many points, I just see it a different way in the overall economy. I absolutely agree Wall St. played a major role ... but where we differ is where I believe there were many other failures along the way that resulted in this spiral of events. Where you come from sounds like what Muolo discussed in his book on the crisis. Perhaps I have my views because it's where I work ... perhaps you have yours because it's not where you work (I don't mean that in an offensive way or anything). Around here, it feels like just blaming Wall St. is like just blaming McDonalds for making you fat - there's countless details that goes into big things like this. Now that fannie, freddie, aig, and leh are being investigated for mortage fraud ... this could change the details as we know them further.</p>
<p>This is part of what I mean when I talk about looking beyond just the IBanks for blame in this mess:</p>
<p>"Earlier this month, FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress that 1,400 individual real estate lenders, brokers and appraisers were now under investigation in addition to two dozen corporations.</p>
<p>'The FBI currently has 26 pending corporate fraud investigations involving subprime lenders," Kelko said. "As we have seen, this number can fluctuate over time, however we do not discuss which companies may or may not be the subject of an investigation.'"</p>
<p>and...</p>
<p>"As the mortgage industry began to unravel, the FBI, with assistance from the IRS, launched a broad investigation into mortgage fraud. In June, its Mortgage Fraud Task Force arrested more than 400 mortgage brokers, lenders, appraisers and other industry insiders who, the it said, were responsible for more than $1 billion in losses"</p>
<p>Full article:
FBI</a> investigating bailout triggers for possible fraud - Sep. 23, 2008</p>