I'm not claiming they were equally complicit in fraud. I'm saying the ratings agencies and the lenders are equally responsible for the collapse. The lenders k

I'm not claiming they were equally complicit in fraud. I'm saying the ratings agencies and the lenders are equally responsible for the collapse. The lenders knew they were giving out dubious loans. The ratings agencies bought into the mathematical models. Frankly, I think it was simply stupidity and hubris. On both sides. It's amazing how stupid people are in the face of irrational exuberance. Which is why I say: they're equally complicit. As are those folks who took the loans (though to a lesser degree, as they may have been poorly or actively misinformed by loan officers), and those folks who bought and sold the derivatives knowing full well what was in them (or at least were aware of the models the risk assessments were based on). Which is where ultimately regulators and regulations are supposed to play a role: to counteract the market's tendency toward irrationality. IMO, if you want to lay the crash at the feet of anyone, it's captured regulators, toothless regulatory bodies, and elected officials who bought into Wall Street bullshit that they could mind their own playground. And really, you could lay all that straight at the feet of that granddaddy of all corruption issues: money in politics.