I would point a single person/group/entity as being at fault. There are bubbles/cycles in every aspect of the economy: The oil bubble/boom and bust, the stock market bubble/boom and bust, the commodity bubble/boom and bust, the real estate bubble/boom and bust, etc. Cycles are intrinsic in any economic activity and will perhaps always be present in human society. While some bubbles happen naturally as a part of the economic cycle, some also occur as a result of investor exuberance and serve as correctives. These typically happen in securities, stock markets, real estate and various other business sectors because of certain changes in the way key players conduct business. The popping of a bubble can often have significant economic repercussions.
I will quote csinvestor.com:
"What causes economic bubbles?
The exact cause of economic bubbles has been disputed by many economists. Some experts think that bubbles are related to inflation and therefore believe that the factors which cause inflation could also be the same factors that cause bubbles to occur. Other experts are of the opinion that there is a basic fundamental value to every asset and the bubbles represent an increase or rise over that fundamental value. This rising movement must eventually return to that fundamental value, which is its natural state.
There are also chaotic theories regarding the formation of bubbles. These theories maintain that bubbles come from certain critical states in the market that originate from the communication of economic players. Still a few others see bubbles as a necessary effect of unreasonably valuing assets based solely on their returns in the recent past without really thinking from a macro perspective or regard for economic fundamentals.
There are some economists who also theorize that a bubble is an imbalance in the way people perceive opportunities, because they try to chase the prices of assets instead of making purchases based on the intrinsic value of the assets (this could also be called a speculator’s mentality). It is also maintained that bubbles are a manifestation of the basic tenet that a market is very efficient in the long-term but not very efficient in the short-term.
Short-term economic bubbles (less than 10 years), which should be viewed as mistakes or artificial situations, tend to result in a natural correction of the economic imbalance. Less is known about long-term bubbles which could prove to be much more devastating to an economy. Long-term bubbles could result from a systematic misperception of the value of certain goods and services as well as long-term manipulation of financial records and lending practices by powerful governments and corporations. Rather than ushering in a recession, the correction of a long-term bubble has the potential of marking the beginning of a long period of depression."
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Who Is At Fault In The Current Mortgage...
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