Americans like to blame someone. We want to point to a person, say it is all that persons fault, do something to punish that person, and then move on. The most classic example I think of is how we blamed everything on Saddam and his sons, and not on the Sunni tribes he hailed from that were very repressive to the majority of Iraq. We offed Saddam years ago, and yet the violence isnt over, the war isnt decided, and people are still dying. Obviously we focused too much on him, and not enough on the culture that spawned him.

We like to blame Paulson, BB, Bush, Maybe even congress (especially the other party in congress) and a few CEO’s. We could off (fire, not kill) all these people and we would still have the same problems we have today. It is the culture of the “American Dream” to be a home “owner” that is to blame. We are all apart of that culture and all share some responsibility for it.

The American dream as I remember it was never about owning something expensive, it was about having a better life than your parents, and making sure your kids had a better life than you. If owning a house enables that dream, then great. We as a culture put WAY too much social pressure on home ownership and not nearly enough on ensuring the things that really matter.