I was half listening to talk radio as I drove, and the guest was an insider from a collapsed mortgage firm who'd written a book. I tuned in when the guest was saying that it was a gray area between the lenders and the borrows where the responsibility for the mortgage crisis, and that the financial institutions were following the rules. The host disagreed with the point that the financial institutions spent huge sums of money to manipulate the political process to change the rules. I was grateful for the alert and insightful talk show host. I was angered by the guest's comments. Who's more at fault, the addict or his dealer? When the dealer uses personal influence to manipulate somebody into becoming an addict, the dealer is responsible. In the case of the bad loans, if reasonable rules are in place, and enforced, those suckers willing to take a loan they can never repay would never get the chance.