Fifty comments above mine proclaiming personal responsibility can't all be wrong, can they?
The prior commentators seem in denial over the fact that contracts always involve multiple people. Both sides are completely guilty in this situation. In my opinion though the banks should cop the buck. They are the contract writers and those who hold the cards. They made the final decision on lending to people who couldn't afford it. It doesn't matter what they call themselves (I don't care for financial jargon) all the parties exchanging money to the irresponsible stooge on the other side of the table are equally responsible.
So, what is to be done? Punishing the banks will cause another Iceland; punishing those who are or are about to default will cause homelessness and crime to spiral into anarchy and bailing out everyone will only delay the problem. If it were my decision I'd go for pattern punishment: rail a few from each camp with the mother of all punishments(life in prison for fraud for example) and scare people back to the straight and narrow.
Can the previous commentators admit that the free market is fail? This only happened because of lack of regulation.
