So - who is really to blame for the credit crunch?

[Cyberman]

Who's to blame? The government for sitting on its arse and watching personal debt spiral out of control.

If national governments are for anything, it is heading things like that off at the pass.

We on here could see what was happening six years ago, so they should have done.

Yup, HMG are to blame for not beefing-up credit controls when it was obvious that we were heading over a precipice.

[AtW]

Yup, HMG are to blame for not beefing-up credit controls when it was obvious that we were heading over a precipice.

It's like say that the bar is responsible for selling drinks to the addicts - the addicts bear most of responsibility for their addiction.

[Rantor]

It's like say that the bar is responsible for selling drinks to the addicts - the addicts bear most of responsibility for their addiction.

For some reason, I think we're not following this thread down the path the OP intended.

[AtW]

For some reason, I think we're not following this thread down the path the OP intended.

Do we ever?

[Another Dodgy Agent]

It's like say that the bar is responsible for selling drinks to the addicts - the addicts bear most of responsibility for their addiction.

Depends who is buying the next round...

[HairyArsedBloke]

It's like say that the bar is responsible for selling drinks to the addicts - the addicts bear most of responsibility for their addiction.

Ban the production of drinks would solve that problem.

And to stop people making their own.

Ban the growing of any crop that could be turned into drink. Send farmers to prison for causing drunkeness.

It's the only way to be sure.

[Another Dodgy Agent]

Ban the production of drinks would solve that problem.

And to stop people making their own.

Ban the growing of any crop that could be turned into drink. Send farmers to prison for causing drunkeness.

It's the only way to be sure.

Alternatively we could nuke the site from orbit...

[Cyberman]

It's like say that the bar is responsible for selling drinks to the addicts - the addicts bear most of responsibility for their addiction.

Hardly, because we as taxpayers paid multi-millions of pounds in salaries to regulators who simply did not do or were not up to their job, probably because the best brains were working at the banks.

[stackpole]

Originally Posted by stackpole

"We on here could see what was happening six years ago"

Yep, it was a time when mortgage multiples started moving well above three times borrowers' earnings (a historical safety limit), and house prices were rising above the historical average.

Tony Blair was coming on TV telling us to Spend Spend Spend (a few months after 9/11), and people were increasing their mortgages to buy new cars and go on fancy holidays.

Didn't you notice any of this?

I think I've been quite consistent in my view, for many years, that this debt bubble could not last and would end in tears - the longer it went on, the worse it would be when it finally happened.

[oracleslave]

Yep, it was a time when mortgage multiples started moving well above three times borrowers' earnings (a historical safety limit), and house prices were rising above the historical average.

Tony Blair was coming on TV telling us to Spend Spend Spend (a few months after 9/11), and people were increasing their mortgages to buy new cars and go on fancy holidays.

Didn't you notice any of this?

I think I've been quite consistent in my view, for many years, that this debt bubble could not last and would end in tears - the longer it went on, the worse it would be when it finally happened.

I guess I have to be honest and say I didn't see it coming 6 years ago. I think you flatter too many members of this board with the assertion that they all saw this coming 6 years out. If you did in fact see it all coming 6 years in advance did you make a killing in BTL?