> Though, of course, I should also throw in the fact that the ultimate buyers bought into blindly trusting the rating agencies instead of taking responsibility

> Though, of course, I should also throw in the fact that the ultimate buyers bought into blindly trusting the rating agencies instead of taking responsibility for calling BS on the ratings of things that couldn't be explained in a couple of sentences (or even a couple of pages). QFT. It seems like all the great investor-heroes of this century (Buffet, Philip Fisher, Peter Lynch, Bill Gross, etc.) say roughly the same thing: Buy what you understand. If you don't understand it, don't take someone else's word for it, there will be other opportunities that you do understand.