blame because they changed the laws saying let them do this and then goldman sachs is playing blackjack and 20 and 20 is a push and then the house wins on the push. pretty much. the thing to recognize is that it s the search for a villain. after oversimplification of the situation. by goldman betting against the housing market, it didn t make a bad loan, it didn t take a bad loan, it made the wager that the subprime mortgage mess would end badly. that s not what was as stake. the sec s narrow fraud charge against goldman might well end up turning out they can win. who knows. but i don t think that really has anything to do with if goldman may or lost money on the best. it s about disclosure. this is saying who was really to blame for the financial crisis. the fact is it wasn t one firm, it wasn t just wall street. it was a general credit mania. including the government.