Penguin68 not doubt what you witnessed in a segment of the US mortgage market was true but it is just a piece in the puzzle. Banking is like engineering, there are many many different aspects to it. And you would persecute all for the faults of what in the big picture were a minority of bankers? (of which you were one... lets not forget that whilst you are preaching... have you given all your I'll gotten gains to help the homeless charities yet?).
It sticks in the throat that someone from a risk management team working in the MBS/ABS market should be busy spounting off about what was wrong with the system.... shame you didn't stand up and take responsility 3/4 years ago.... no wander you are not an advocat of personal responsibility given your own small role in the affair.
The UK mortgage market model is very very different to the US.... and yet we ended up in the same mess. In many European markets (e.g. Spain & Ireland) the securitisation markets were in their infancy and yet they are in a worse state than the US and UK.... how does that work if the sole blame for this crisis lies with a small number of ABS/MBS traders?? What about the mess the CMBS market is in.... was commercial real estate pushed on to poor unsuspecting finacially illiterate no hopers as well??
A the heart of this crisis is greed plain and simple.... not just bankers but society as a whole. To blame the entire crisis on a bunch of traders is political brain washing.
Rant over (again)