Perhaps your understanding of these events is lacking depth. I don't have the time nor the space to explain to you how the removal of the Glass-Steagall Act directly affected the housing and insurance markets.  However, once you familiarize yourself with the facts surrounding this financial "pyramid scam" concerning credit default swaps, predatory loans, fake S&P; credit ratings, fraudulent insurance policies, etc., the only reasonable conclusion would be that system was set up to fail by allowing banks to gamble with people's savings instead of keeping them separate.  This was by no means the only cause, however, it was a major contributor to the crash and the eventual blackmailing of U.S. taxpayers by the major banks and investment firms. THC Loadee