The mainstream media, and quite a lot of the alternative media, have been blaming the problem on greed. My opinion, which is all I am qualified to expound, is that they are right. However, it is the greed of the mases as much as it is the greed of those in the financial industries.

Pressure is on the finance industry to produce results for their stock holders. The individual investor expects (or demands) an above average return on his or her investment. Greed.

Middle class real estate investors see the increase in the housing market and decide to purchase the second, third and fourth home as investments. The memory of the tech market "bubble" has faded and they think that the market will continue to grow at an unsustainable pace. In their golden years they will sell these investment homes and retire to Palm Springs. Greed.

Lower income individuals are fed a stedy diet of propaganda by pandering politicians. They feel that they deserve the same access to credit that middle and high income individuals enjoy. With little experience in managing credit and little knowledge of the true cost of the loans they are taking in record numbers, they buy their starter homes. In many cases these homes are overvalued and in alarming numbers the loan rates are set to readjust in as little as six months. They don't ask and the mortgage brokers don't tell. Both sides are afraid to discuss the reality. The broker thinks that if he tells the borrower they might balk. The borrower thinks that if they express their uncertainty the broker might balk. So they go off to the closing table, both knowing that they are entering into a bad deal. Both think that they have something to gain. Greed.

Now the banking industry stands at the Capitol Steps with their hands out. The cost of the orgy has been calculated at $700,000,000,000 ($700 Billion for those who have never seen so many zeros). The debate has taken a disconcerting turn. It is not whether or not to "bail out" the banking industry or not. The debate is whether we bail out the lenders or the borrowers. Hugo Chavez and his compatriot Fidel Castro must get a certain satisfaction out of seeing this. Socialists all over this country and around the world are pointing at the groveling capitalists. How many times have I heard from my more liberal associates that capitalism is all about greed and this is the net result. How painful is it to see the greatest economic engine that the world has ever known sent into a tailspin while the politicians all try to find somewhere to lay the blame.

There is blame enough to go around. Politicians on both sides of the isle were afraid to sound the warning because "negativity doesn't win any votes" can accept some of the blame. Financial industry insiders who should have known better can share part of the blame. We, the american people who let politicians and reporters tell what to think and what to do, who see the supposed affluence of our neighbors and fret that we will never measure up can share part of the blame.

Whatever the outcome of this mess, Capitalism opened the doors to creativity and industry to create a great society. If Capitalism survives this crisis this nation has a chance to stay at the front of the worled economic picture. If socialism gains a stronger foothold that it has already established I fear that my children, in their adulthood, will not know the American Opportunity that I, and my forefathers, have known.