Is the NY Times serious?: Blaming Phil Gramm for the financial problems

So is Phil Gramm responsible for the current financial problems because he opposed regulations to go after "predatory lenders"?

From 1999 to 2001, Congress first considered steps to curb predatory loans — those that typically had high fees, significant prepayment penalties and ballooning monthly payments and were often issued to low-income borrowers. Foreclosures on such loans were on the rise, setting off a wave of personal bankruptcies.

But Mr. Gramm did everything he could to block the measures. In 2000, he refused to have his banking committee consider the proposals, an intervention hailed by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers as a “huge, huge step for us.” . . .

A lot of economists would argue that lowering interest rates and making it even easier for people with risky credit to get these loans would have created even more problems. Wasn't the government already doing enough to force these loans through?

Possibly the NY Times should read its own news stories from the 1990s predicting how Freddie and Fannie and government regulations would cause the current problems.