USA Today's pretty fair analysis of bailout causes

I hope this was a front-page article (hard to tell in on-line version) and every reader of that paper studied the article carefully. It rightfully points at two big problems, recognizes both parties role, but rightfully attributes "government" as the primary cause, although it does seem to focus more on the role of Gramm's hedge-fund amendment compared and blame Democrats for fighting Bush's and then McCain's attempts to reign in Fannie and Freddy. When mentioned as a cause, the CRA is dismissed. So maybe not so fair and balanced.

No single government decision sparked the crisis, but collectively the candidates had a point: Both parties in Congress played important roles in setting the stage for the ongoing financial meltdown.

...

"The crisis was caused by government," Gramm says. He cites the Community Reinvestment Act, which he says "forced banks to make subprime (mortgage) loans" to people who couldn't afford them.

Democrats, including Harkin, and many economic analysts dispute that. As for what he learned, Harkin says, "Don't pay attention to Wall Street when it comes to issues like this."