We're in the midst of the largest recession in almost a century, barely faced down the unraveling of the global economic system and watched a $8 billion housing bubble settle down around the heads of 16 million unemployed Americans, and the friggin' chairman of BB&T Corp. has the gall to blame all of it on the government?
Here's BB&T's John Allison at yesterday's Virginia Chamber of Commerce conference:
"All were misled about housing," he said. Residential real estate was overbuilt by $8 billion, and prices rose on average 30 percent more than the market could bear.
"Without Fannie and Freddie, we wouldn't have had the housing bubble," he said. "Only government can make a mistake of this magnitude possible."
Way to take accountability -- for anything. It's good to see people washing their hands and pointing their fingers, especially after they benefited so directly from the mistakes and warnings they blindly ignored.
The real irony? Earlier in his talk, Allison talked about "a lack of personal responsibility."
Maybe John Allison could issue a loan for a slice of humble pie.
