Pundits generally blame the recent real estate bubble on loose lending practices and on about Wall Street corruption; they blame President Obama and other world leaders for doing next to nothing to tighten lending rules, let alone punish the bad guys, and usually conclude with Hail Mary exhortations that something must be done or it will happen again.
The deeper cause of this and past recessions is the rent seeking contagion, investors become speculators hoping to collect ever more unearned income (economic rent) before the speculative bubble bursts.
