Today's Outrage: Don't the Banks Get It Yet?

You'd think that after being the beneficiary of a $700 billion government rescue plan, as well as an ever-expanding list of economic tools invented by the Federal Reserve and Treasury, that bankers would be more contrite about their role in creating the credit crisis.

If so, you'd be wrong, according to a new survey of 339 bank CEOs and other senior officials compiled by accounting firm Grant Thornton. Coming in at the top of the list of causes, with 54% of the vote, was "lax underwriting standards."

OK, mea culpa, the banks' execs seems to be saying. That, however, was closely followed by "political emphasis on increasing home ownership," with 46%, and "lack of oversight of the mortgage industry," with 44%. ...