Gotcha. So, the NYT, Business Week magazine, Forbes and the other articles are not reputable?
The CEO of Fannie specifically said that they were trying to get loans for people whose credit scores were just below their underwriting guidelines. Why were their credit scores too low? Because they were bad investments, of some sort.
As both the regulator of and a player in the housing market, the government was a major contributor to the crisis. If you are the CEO of a company, and the company fails, then you are somewhat at fault. If you are the captain of a ship and it runs aground, you are somewhat at fault. If you are the coach of a football team that loses, then you are somewhat at fault.
The only way that I let the government off the hook is if they are not a participant in the market. If they are just the referees, then I won't blame them when one team loses. But, our government is not just a referee in the housing market.