Bill:
The banks didn't do this to themselves. The Community Development Act was the primary culprit. And GM, Chrysler and Caterpillar didn't do this to themselves. The labor unions brought them down. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bundled worthless loans as "derivatives" which seemed to be backed by the US government and taxpayers and then dumped them on banks and financial institutions. And as for the bail out, the banks and financial institutions not given the option to decline the bail out money -- some were forced to take the bailout funds (ref: Well's Fargo). The very top of your list of corporate banking crooks, the one who made the most profit, "bonuses" for making more subprime loans was Franklin Raines. He, by the way, after making hundreds of millions at Fannie Mae (or was it Freddie Mac?), now serves on Obama's cabinet.
The way all this goes is that government regulates private enterprise to the point that private enterprise can no longer function in a free market economy, precipitating a "crisis". The the government steps in with more regulations in order to save us from the very crisis government created. If you think Corporate America and speculators were the culprits here, then you are sadly misinformed. What the banks did was required by law, else they risked federal prosecution for not making a certain percentage of such sub-prime loans. And speculation is not illegal. But you should ask yourself why, a month before the election, gasoline mysteriously shot up to $4 a gallon serving as the catalyst to precipitate much of this? Who benefited?
Yes, CEO's make millions and wall away -- and you may consider that criminal. But it was millions the corporations earned and paid taxes on, in most cases. But politicians are walking away with far more of America's wealth -- squandering it in financially ruinous social policy and welfare entitlements. They get rich, get re-elected, and in most cases, retire on the tax payer's backs without ever having to answer for the consequences of those policies which in many cases become manifest many years later (for example, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton with their Community Development Act).
The dollar will almost certainly suffer from run away inflation (I've seen it before under Carter), except this time, the deficits are so deep, I fear the hole is dug so deep we won't get back out. And when the debt service on the interest from the deficit exceeds the GDP and passes the point of any hope that American taxpayers can make good on our government's spending, then the dollar must (and will) fail, and an new national (or international) currency will emerge. Economic war has been declared on America and on free market capitalism. And you may not want to hear it. You may not think it possible. But if you don't, then you have a very short view of history. Have you seen much stimulus yet from the $1.2 trillion already thrown at the problem? Watch what the DJIA does every time Obama opens his mouth. America's corporate wealth is being vilified and destroyed in the name of economic class warfare, and we will all, unfortunately, pay the price.
So yes, in short, if you blame Corporate America and private banking and financial institutions -- in short, blame "Wall Street" for this mess, then in my opinion, that is a manifestation of idiocy and is the stuff socialist revolutions thrive on.
Pardon me if I speak bluntly. I believe it is long past time to have been doing so. If you are educated (and living in Cape Cod, I suspect you are) then you should read some Frederich Hayek (The Constitution of Liberty, The Road to Serfdom, The Fatal Conceit) and Thomas Sowell's new book (Applied Economics - Thinking Beyond Stage 1).
Have a nice day.
