Investors Still Off the Hook for Sub-Prime Crisis, Poll Says

     In the public mind, individual responsibility still reigns.

Polls show that, by a greater than 2-1 margin, individuals who borrowed more than they could afford are to blame for the sub-prime crisis.

Of course, the key to such statistics is, what exact questions were asked?

That information is not available for free on the Rasmussen Reports web site, who took the poll.     Significantly, only 19% of the respondents are closely following the crisis.

And, the same 2-1 majority support a 90 day foreclosure moratorium and 5 year freeze on ARM rates, though a big majority opposes Federal government rescue.

I am big on individual responsibility myself.

I want the public, through the jury system, to be able to hold accountable those responsible.

For people without a high school diploma, English as a second language, the mortgage broker telling them they can afford it, the closer obtaining their signature without allowing time to read the paperwork, and everyone concealing that the payment would double if interest rates rose a little, I doubt a jury would find that they knowingly “borrowed more than they could afford.”

I doubt the poll asked about the responsibility of ratings agencies that  had a conflict of interest rating the offerings of companies from which they get most of their income.

Or the responsibility of the sellers of the mortgages, for due diligence in figuring out exactly what they were selling.

As usual, the main stream media is behind the curve on this one.

As more and more facts come to light, I predict, the poll answers will change.