I agree that the deals shouldn't have been made in the first place, but, once they have been made, I think those in the government should stand behind them, as they did in this case. I would like to see politicians come clean about it, however, rather than placing all the blame on the bank executives.
There was an individual being interviewed who worked for a bank in the southwest, I think, who said her bank was "encouraged" to make loans for houses to illegal immigrants by the government. When the immigrants lost their jobs, they just left the houses. This is really disturbing to me. Sorry I can't recall the source so you can confirm the story.
At any rate, it seems to me that we have a "divide and conquer" strategy going on politically. Politicians are definitely making the bankers look like greedy bad guys who need to be punished. The tendency of the average person is to go along with this, "yeah, those guys need to be brought under control, they don't deserve those bonuses..." Next the government is just increasing taxes on those making over $250,000 a year...again, the average man doesn't complain, but he should. We need to stand together and not let the government nibble away at this group or that group, it is a violation of individual rights, of property rights, that give one group the advantage over another. Our representative democracy is devolving into mob rule.