Big Miss

The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire. The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public. Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble.

-- From the final report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, as quoted in the New York Times, 26 January 2011