Who’s to blame for the financial crisis? Alan Greenspan, Goldman Sachs and former Citi execs all say ‘not I’

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is holding hearings today to ascertain who’s to blame for the sub-prime lending mess. Yesterday they heard Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve say it wasn’t him. At the same time Goldman Sachs issued a statement that they weren’t responsible for the financial crisis by betting against their clients. So how do we get to the bottom of this mess?

Richard Bitner, author of “Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider’s Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance” testified before the committee yesterday. He is willing to accept some responsibility for the crisis and thinks rating agencies and banks bear the biggest burden. However, he maintains that there are too many people at fault to blame just one group.

And Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, tells us that the government needs to step in, take responsibility, and start regulating.