Bernanke: Blame the Housing Bubble on Lax Regulations

Many opponents of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke blame the Fed's monetary policy for the housing bubble that burst in 2007. But on Sunday, Bernanke used his speech before the American Economic Association in Atlanta to explain why he thinks regulatory failure -- not monetary policy failure -- caused housing to overinflate. That does seem to be the case, but the Fed is one of those primary regulators that didn't react quickly enough to prevent the crisis.