On the campaign trail, Barack Obama blamed the crisis in part on greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street.

Sen. Barack Obama: “They said they wanted to let the market run free, but instead they let it run wild, and in doing so, they trampled on our core values of fairness and balance and responsibility to one another. And as a result, we are facing a financial crisis as profound as anything that we’ve faced since the Great Depression. As a result, your jobs, your savings, your economic security are now at risk.”