The most remarkable thing about the collapse of the savings and loan industry is that so many of the major participants--the regulators, politicians, and S&L operators themselves--chose to do nothing as they watched problems mount and taxpayer liabilities grow. That choice was dictated by a variety of motives: greed, political self-interest, and even (sometimes) misguided good intentions. Whatever the motives, this collective interest in hiding the debacle made it certain that the industry's final fall would come with an enormous bang, one that would force administrations that professed a free market philosophy essentially to nationalize a majority of the nation's thrifts. As a result, the industry in many respects became one of the best examples of socialism in the U.S. economy.
![Life in the South; From the Commencement of the War. by a Blockaded British Subject [S. L. J., i.e. Catharine Cooper Hopley]. Being a Social History of Those Who Took Part in the Battles, ... from the Spring of 1860 to August 1862. Vol. II. - War College S](/covers/9781296476045.jpg)
