The Subprime Mortgage Mess: Whose Fault Is It?

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So who’s at fault in the subprime mortgage mess? There’s a nice little spirited debate towards the bottom of this Daily Bulletin story about the subprime crisis in the Inland Empire. It goes like this:

‘I get upset at finger-pointing at our industry,’ said Marc Brinitzer, a loan officer in Roseville and author of the mortgage blog LendingClarity.com. ‘Consumers have some responsibility. One thing that characterized the last few years is an abnormal level of greed on the part of the consumer. I saw people buying three or four homes at the same time with no intent of living in (them). A lot of those people make up the early payment defaults.’

Counters Bruce Marks, CEO of Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America: ‘I will not accept the theory of blaming the victim,’ he said. ‘Lenders have a legal responsibility to make affordable loans to people. If you look behind the scenes, then you understand this was an organized scheme ... to steal billions from people.’

Marks said investment banks and regulators looked the other way even though they knew that the lending was out of control. He said homeowners can’t be held responsible for that.

Thoughts? Comments? They are always welcome.