Debate: Who's more to blame?

Is Wall Street or Washington more to blame for the crisis?

And not that an answer to this question can be agreed upon anytime soon (like never), and there are plenty (not me) who would add 'Main St' to the accused, but an interesting debate took place Tuesday night in NYC.

The verdict by audience vote - Washington. Though there's plenty of blame to go around, I rather tend to agree, and further now worry that Washington - esp Congress - is doing all sorts of frankly stupid things in their haste to avoid ever-escalating public wrath.

The debate motion was "Blame Washington more than Wall Street for the financial crisis"

Speaking for the motion were Niall Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard University; John Steele Gordon, author of An Empire of Wealth; and Nouriel Roubini, professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and chairman of RGE Monitor.

Alex Berenson, investigative reporter for the New York Times; Jim Chanos, famed short seller and founder of Kynikos Associates; and Nell Minow, editor and co-founder of The Corporate Library spoke against the motion.

The full transcript of this debate is available online at this link

My favorite quotes:

1. “This symbiotic and indeed corrupt relationship between Wall Street and Washington is the thing that is rotten at the heart of the United States, it is the principal explanation for this crisis, and that brings me to the key question you have to ask yourselves. Who has to defend the public interest. Is it the investment bankers, the hedge fund managers, or is it your elected representatives. Ladies and gentlemen, it is perfectly clear, that it is Washington that has failed to defend the public interest, and I fear, it is continuing to fail to do so.” - Niall Ferguson
2. “[Greenspan] has been a creator of serial bubbles one after the other and when people expect to be bailed out then they behave accordingly, that’s the Greenspan put. We created a system which people expect, that the gains are going to be privatized, and the losses are going to be socialized; this is a welfare state for the rich, for the well-connected and for Wall Street. That’s what happened, that’s public policy.” — Nouriel Roubini