Wall Street Shuffle

How is it legal to inflate the value of homes, property, or other assets to the point where a market downswing would mean the disappearance of trillions of dollars? To me, that sounds like nothing more than the behavior of someone with a gambling problem. Except this addict just happens to be a collection of bankers who just pissed away all our tax money. I certainly don't take high risks that might cost other individuals their homes. Why can these suits? I don't want to see this country fall into a depression any more than the next citizen, but it seems like it was this kind of irresponsible risk-taking that got us into this mess. So, I don't think the bailout is going to get us out. We need to change our behavior here - as a nation and as individuals - and until that happens, we're just going to continue to keep sliding further into debt, until Mexican pesos finally are worth more than our dollars. Just my devalued two cents.