What turned the whole system in on itself was the a-holes out there actively assisting homeowner loan applicants to lie about their income and then the lenders (or their agents) lying about the value of the homes, artificially inflating home values. The Fannie Mae thing MAY or may not have been bad judgment and we'll never know for sure since it was compounded by the lying going on. When you have lenders and agents lying through their teeth to get people into homes the lenders/agents knew damn good and well the applicants couldn't afford and then to put them into ARMS on top of that--well, THAT is criminal! Or should be.