It was very unregulated. NINA loans, NINJA loans, ARM loans, no doc loans, it was literally walk in walk out mortgage lending. All because banks didn't care whether the borrower could pay the loan back because they would pass that risk off to Wall Street who would then pass that risk off to investors.
It was a nice little game with a lot of in between shenanigans that made it worse.
Hey, Barney Frank: The Government Did Cause the Housing Crisis
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...crisis/249903/
‘The Financial Crisis Was the Result of Government Housing Policy’
http://reason.com/archives/2012/05/1...he-result-of-g
How The Government Caused The Mortgage Crisis
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-t...crisis-2009-10
A Government-Mandated Housing Bubble
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/13/hou...ard_pinto.html
I guess now we are to believe that the government didn't regulate itself enough, or something.