How could so many MBA’s be so STUPID?

The degree does not make the man or the woman. 

I have been pondering the mortgage & banking mess for quite some time (haven’t we all) and the prevailing foundational question I keep coming back to is “how could so many MBA’s [or Ivy League MBA’s or high-paid MBA’s or insert your own version of MBA here] be so stupid?

I know, I know … the greed factor of course but I keep coming back to how so many people making so many common-sense mistakes on the road to collapse.  And I am talking high-level executives that created, supported and continued to breathe life (or death) into the system.  Sheesh.

Couldn’t you just do the basic math that says you need good credit, moderate-to-little debt and appropriately-sized income to handle x mortgage and that by writing and selling lots and lots and lots of these mortgages to vulnerable and ill-informed consumers that eventually the system will not be able to support itself?

Seems the lenders and banks that took the moderate (and I believe well-advised) road over the past 5 years are in the most enviable position today.

The degree does not make the man or the woman; the vision and decisions do.