The Sept. 25 editorial, "Blank Loan," in which the blame for current financial crisis was laid almost exclusively on John McCain, revealed a lack of understanding of the current financial crisis and zero thoughtful insight into the economic problems facing the country.

Obviously a major piece of responsibility for the credit meltdown lies with the investment banks and their legions of financial wizards who conceived of, and marketed, various forms of mortgage-backed securities. The Washington machine, on both sides of the aisle, looked the other way over the last 15 years, missing danger signals and opportunities to tighten regulation.

I would also suggest that "Main Street" bears some responsibility; consumers across the country actually bought homes, the asset at the core of the crisis. They walked into banks and signed up for mortgages they could not afford.

The simple calculations, "monthly income minus mortgage payment equals zero" was either not performed or the result was ignored. Some were clearly misled by lenders; others, however, were motivated by old-fashioned greed.

Lost in the continuous blame game is also the positive fact that the vast majority of people in America are actually paying their mortgages on time. Some of the Wall Street "chicanery" as you call it, actually created products that helped borderline home-seekers realize the American Dream of home ownership. Most of these people are paying their mortgages.

I suppose next week we will read about how McCain was also responsible for the rainy weather this weekend – global warming, you know.