The government forced these banks to offer bad loans

[guitarist]

I didn't realize credit was a "civil right".

That's just one side of it. Probably a more significant contributor to this disaster began with the Republican-led repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

To what degree this is to blame for the abuses depends on who you ask. But targeting this is less uncomfortable, liberals will approve, we can say it blames only white people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act