Who's to Blame for the Subprime Meltdown?

The subprime meltdown has begun. Hundreds of mortgage companies around the country are going bankrupt. Thousands of people are having their mortgages foreclosed and are being thrown out of their homes. But who's responsible for this mess?

Obviously, greedy and unethical mortgage companies should shoulder most of the blame. In their uncontrollable lust for the almighty dollar, they made home loans available to people who would not have qualified, had they used the rules everyone played by in the past. Yet they went ahead and loaned the money to these people with questionable credit in order to command higher interest rates. Now the whole thing has blown up in their faces. They got their just desserts.

However, the borrowers have to share some of the blame. They knew their own credit histories and bill-paying habits better than anyone else did but still sought home loans that they knew would be a hardship for them to pay back. Rather than waiting to save a little money for a larger down payment, and thereby avoiding expensive private mortgage insurance as well as possibly getting a lower rate, they had to have it all now. They couldn't wait. Their impatience drove them to push the financial envelope and it ultimately burst wide open.

Everyone involved in this debacle should hang their heads in shame!