THE SAVINGS-AND-LOAN DEBACLE

The roots of the savings and loan debacle lie in overregulation of the industry resulting from the attempt to promote widespread home ownership. Actions by policymakers unable to admit earlier mistakes compounded the problem throughout the 1980s. Attempts by political decisionmakers to shift blame to the private sector, coupled with a failure to acknowledge the institutional pressures that led congressmen and S & L owners and managers to act as they did, leave taxpayers vulnerable to the repetition of S & L-type crises in other industries.