You're taking the exception (people buying several houses and renting them out) and just declaring that it applies across the board. In many cases it wasn't like this at all - just families who had been duped into thinking they could afford something they couldn't. Sure you could point the finger and say they could have pored over every clause in their mortgage contract and produced their own models for what could happen to their repayments under various circumstances, but why would they? They had no idea whoever "sold" them the mortgage was acting in bad faith. It's only now we know that it was all a sham and that you shouldn't trust these guys as far as you can throw them.
The idea that the financial crisis was brought on by some greedy underclass with ideas above their station is a myth that the banks have been pushing ... and it seems a few HNers have just bought it hook, line and sinker.
You're simplifying the already situation well outlined in the parent comment. Maybe your argument is that people aren't responsible for their own decisions? Ie when they go to casino and blow their salary on gambling, it was not their fault, it was evil casinos. If they sell their used car too cheaply, it's fault of that sneaky dealer.
From what I heard many people in US were (maybe still are) taking all kinds of non-necessary loans. Well that's really not the healthy mentality, nor is it standard anywhere else across the globe. People that can't do simple 2nd grade math on paper take those here in Europe, and often they suffer, together with their families.
Seriously, there is something called financial literacy, and 101 of that is - don't buy shit you can't afford with a HUGE comfortable margin. 102 would be don't take loan on anything but your housing, unless you're starting a company. Any other loan, you're entering needless risk for not good enough reason. My personal opinion this is one of the failures of modern schooling - these things should be taught to every child, over and over. How to do taxes, how government works, how to become a better member of society and contribute to it, and how to effin' be financially smart whatever your circumstances are.
I think you overestimate the coherence of your arguments. Do you respect the law? Do you agree that people that sign any contract that binds them for majority of their lives should do their due diligence and actually check what they sign or at least give it a serious thought?
Nobody here is vouching for the banks here, they share their huge part in what happened, but your views are simplistic and a bit paranoid to be honest - 'banks pushing their myths on HN crowd' - the situation has been analysed ad nauseum and its pretty clear what led to the crysis. Nobody needs to push anything, not that banks would be magically able to do it anyway
> just families who had been duped into thinking they could afford something they couldn't.
Duped? You don't need to pour over financial models to know that spending 3/4 of your pay on a mortgage is going to cause problems. One thing I will say is that in the US, personal finance education is woefully inadequate. Just look at the number of people and the amount of balances that get carried on CCs. That alone is a sign how poorly people think about money.
The sad part is that a budget is not hard. It does require some self discipline, which is also sorely lacking.
The idea that the financial crisis was brought on by some greedy underclass with ideas above their station is a myth that the banks have been pushing ... and it seems a few HNers have just bought it hook, line and sinker.