There is more than enough blame to go around for the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. Here is an interesting article. Lots of blame
http://www.economicpredictions.org/who-is-to-blame-for-the-financial-crisis.htmUnfortunately, probably the biggest problem (my opinion) was the loosening of mortgage lending regulations on banks / investment banks, resulting in a huge surge in subprime mortgages. Those were "repackaged" into mortgage-backed securities -- not direct pass-throughs (like a GNMA pool), but derivatives, which divided those MBS's into several tranches (portions), some of which were, or should have been, rated as junk or lower (non-rated). Those were the ultimate culprit when the housing bubble started to burst. Bankers were not the whole problem, but their greed (lending to people the bankers KNEW should not be getting a mortgage) certainly contributed to the meltdown.
Yes, Smitty, banks ARE regulated by the government. But those regulations were drastically reduced, starting in the early 2000's, so bankers, while not entirely to blame, certainly share much of the blame.