The shareholders were just as enraptured by the mania as anyone else and were generally cheering the management on.
deluded would be more accurate. Within the limits of their delusion, most banks exploited the situation as they saw it, quite efficiently.
It's the public who were at the ottom of this in believing house prices would rise exponentially forever and then later demanding that politicians and bankers make it so.
I'll assume the smiley negates the statement. I'm certainly on record in uk.finance in making the above prediction back then (and somewhat more besides).
[China...]
The US isn't through this yet. They're still borrowing impossible amounts in order to avoid facing the music and reordering their economy to live within their means.
It will be interesting to see which way they jump. I have the feeling though that the population won't give them much leeway and that they'll be quickly out of power.
FoFP