<human>: I guess what I don't understand is why everyone points the finger at Wall Street as the big bad meanies who caused the financial collapse. 

I am not saying they're blameless, but if you actually look at the facts, the financial crisis is based very strongly off of a multi-tiered layer of problems.  To put it simply:

1) Banks give out mortgages to people who can't possibly pay them back 
* Both the bank **and the customer** are to blame for this

2) Banks sell the mortgages to Wall Street firms, who turn them into securities

- Note that this particular action is not in of itself bad for anyone.  IT is a simple transaction

3) Wall Street firms group up the mortgages into bundles, and pay off the ratings agencies to give the securities a AAA rating.  They are subsequently insured against default by AIG.
* Wall Street firms and Ratings Agencies are to blame

4) Pension funds, 401(k)s and other large retirement savings plans buy the AAA securities, thinking that they are golden and when the mortgages default, the securities lose their value

This, in a nutshell, is the financial crisis.  Why is Wall Street the one thing that people are aiming at?  *everyone who was involved with this pipeline is to blame for the mess, INCLUDING THE GREEDY CONSUMERS WHO BOUGHT HOMES THEY COULDN'T AFFORD

Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell
<bot>: Wall Street is to blame for SOME of what happened, but not all of it, yet it seems to take all the heat for the problem