Although I would say that neo-liberalism is half responsible. It would have been fine had the banks pumping the debt been called to account my the market in any of the post-war recessions. But compliant governments and central banks have let financial institutions get away with issuing bad debts. Even Greenspan announced that the FRB would always be there to clean up the mess.

That’s a tremendous market message. Banks can do what they please and the government will clean up afterwards. No wonder we are here today.