I guess I am at a loss. How exactly is Wall Street the cause of our problems?
People blame everyone but themselves. We get ourselves into debt and buy homes we can't afford, then blame the government for not protecting us enough. We insist on buying muscle cars and SUVs, then bitch about the price at the pump or better yet blame the Bush Administration and Big Oil for destroying our lives. A few years from now people will be blaming Obama for a million things he had no control over either. Personal responsibility is the only thing which can turn our current plight around.
And there is no Hindenburg Omen effect on the stock market. It's horsesh*t, just like the January Effect, the Superbowl Predictor, Gann Theory, Elliot Waves, and all the other crap the financial media latches onto. But most people believe this stuff. Just like most people lose to the market averages, and most people buy and sell way more often than they should.
I agree with the causes that everyone has stated but the blame has to still fall on the government. Not because it's not the people's fault but because you can't expect people to act anything but selfishly. That goes for those giving out the loans and those receiving them. The bankers will pull any trick to turn a buck and the people will clamber for any money they can get their hands on. Regulation is the only thing that was stopping the freight train, once that was pulled things were bound to get out of control.
So yes, you're absolutely right, it is the consumer's fault for overspending and the bankers for getting greedy, but I (someone with zero debt except for a mortgage which I have always overpaid) want to be protected from these people's stupidity by the government, who I pay lots of money to in tax to do just that.