According to a recently published scathing US official investigation into the meltdown, Wall Street bankers, regulators, government officials, and even homeowners all share the blame for the 2008 financial crisis.

The 545-page Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) report concluded that the crisis was avoidable and caused by widespread failures in financial regulation including failure of the Fed to stem the "tide of toxic mortgages", dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance, excessive borrowing and risk by households and Wall Street and policymakers who lacked a "full understanding of the financial system they oversaw".

The report also said that systemic breaches of accountability and ethics at all levels were also responsible for the financial crisis and the commission's chairman, Phil Angelides, said US authorities were now investigating potential criminal acts it had uncovered.

The report declared: "There are 26 million Americans who are out of work ... Nearly $11tn in household wealth has vanished ... The collateral damage of this crisis has been real people and real communities. The impacts of this crisis are likely to be felt for a generation."

The crisis itself was avoidable – the result of "human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire" and it was led by government mismanagement in large part. The Federal Reserve failed in its duty to establish more prudent limits and firms "made, bought and sold mortgage securities they never examined".

The report asked, "What else could one expect on a highway where there were neither speed limits nor painted lines?"