Mara,
Happy to do so, and to post in a less combative tone!!
The "Jimmy and Bill Did it" theory just doesn't stack up. CRA loans were, on the whole, very successful, and less than one in four of the current subprime default loans came from banks who subscribed to CRA (and even fewer of those were ACTUAL CRA loans). Perhaps do some general research on stats and facts, not just opinions of people with similar political views.
The free marketeers managed to manufacture this mess all by themselves (and most are now admitting as much) largely because the money they could make in the good times meant they could walk away very rich men when it all fell apart. It wasn't true capitalism, it was fraud on a huge scale.
More regulation could have ensured that TRUE capitalism (the market doing what's best for the market) triumphed over CORPORATISM (the market doing what enriches those RUNNING the market).
I'm a centrist, not a socialist. Socialism doesn't work because it runs against human nature. Unchecked capitalism doesn't work because it runs WITH human nature all too well!!