A larger amount of the blame for this economic collapse goes to the media IMHO.  Pack journalism is now the norm and has been wrought due to the pretty boy anchor syndrome.  Ethics?  Hah! Standards?  Hah!  Sources checked?  Hah!  Investigative practices?  Hah!  The media partied on the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, and then totally stopped doing their jobs during the Bush administration.  They have yet to reboot.  

The media is a vital part of the checks and balance system.  They wield immense influence and shine light on the darkness — or used to.  Today media is pretty much owned by big business, which is exactly why we get looping 24/7 coverage of Scott Peterson, critters gone wild, the "Octomom" and any other story that is neither challenging to the cerebral cortex, or of impact to people’s lives outside of the incident.  We need better nightly news on what is happening politically and economically.

Take Enron and the energy crisis in California when Gray Davis was struggling to save his state.  Where was the media as that mega-corp’s executives and traders plundered financial resources?  The media refuses to ask the hard questions as the corruption arises.  Enter Arnold Schwarzengger.  Who is, let’s face it, far better copy than Governor Davis ever was.  Take what  happened during the election to Hillary Clinton and to Sarah Palin.  The corruption of the election, the back room deals, the caucus fraud - no reports.  Not convenient.  There aren’t any Bernsteins and Woodwards out there anymore.  It’s pack journalism.  When Helen Thomas was sent to the back of the press bus the whole media pack should’ve been all over Bush, instead, they genuflected.

I blame the media who gave Bush a pass.  And they better not give Obama a pass either.  Power can corrupt.  That’s why we need a vigilant media.  To shine the light.