Two weeks ago, Portfolio.com posed a simple question with a not-so-simple answer: Who killed the economy? We suggested a few possible culprits and introduced an interactive bracket in which Ben Bernanke faced off against OPEC and Hank Paulson took on President Bush. And then we opened the floor to readers, many of whom said we had left off some other probable suspects, including Congress, the American people—even Texas. Of the more than 130 comments on Portfolio.com and over 4,000 on Yahoo, many took on the legislature for failing to push for alternative energy technologies and higher gas-mileage standards that would reduce costs. Others thought we had met the enemy and it was us. We overspent, built up personal debt, abdicated personal responsibility, and now we are paying the price, end of story. Additional candidates included the media, U.S. monetary policy over the past century, and Big Oil—but the "whodunit" remains unsolved.

Below, an edited sampling of some of the most insightful and provocative comments on the Portfolio.com and Yahoo websites.

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Whose responsibility is it to ensure that people don't borrow more than they can afford? The government's, the bank's, or the borrower's? Unless we want a controlling-nanny state, it's clearly the borrower's responsibility. The government has a duty to ensure that the lender provides clear and full disclosure of the transaction, including risk, but it ends there.
--by Yahoo

There are a number of people to blame but I think Congress tops the list...and they are not even on your list. Think about why we do not provide more of our own oil or gas, why we do not have more nuclear power, why our cars do not get better mileage, and why the price of food has gone up so much. They are a major cause of all of that.
--by mike

The Sheeple who live where the United States used to be:
1. Trying to borrow themselves into prosperity.
2. Sucking all possible equity out of their homes to buy S.U.V.'s and big-screen HDTVs.
3. Expecting a bailout when the foolishness of their behavior catches up with them.
--by Koozarian2000

I blame it entirely on the loose monetary policy that Greenspan championed, from bailing out L.T.C.M. in 1998 to the bailout of Bear Stearns. If there is one thing that he set the tone for, it is making the Fed clean up the mess of the investment banks. Greenspan has been more fond of Wall Street than Main Street.
--by Austin

Consumers are to blame. They overspent (credit-card debt); they took out hefty mortgages, but with a little math calculation these consumers would have realized that a $350,000 first mortgage with a monthly payment of $500 did not wash. They also bought S.U.V.'s without thinking about (1) the turmoil in the Middle East, (2) more people driving, and (3) the fact that with limited oil exploration, the price of gasoline would explode upward.
--by AlanLester

The real culprits are: F.D.R. and Nixon, who serially eliminated the gold standard. This economic mess (which is just starting, BTW) was 80 years in the making. The abandonment of gold-backed currency allowed the Vietnam War, the Great Society welfare spending (and the federal debt in general), the exponentially grown trade deficits with the Middle East and China, and even personal (credit-card and mortgage) indebtedness. And now...we will pay the piper.
--by dr.shannon

Texas killed our economy. It is the greed and arrogance of the Big Oil executives that have kept our country "addicted to oil." The U.S.A. should have led the world to a renewable-energy-powered economy 30 years ago. Had we done that, we would not be fighting energy resource wars or paying for gas at all. The technology has been here for years. It has been the will to move forward and the leadership that has been lacking.
--by BaronVonRichter