The blame has been pinned, squarely and often, on inadequate oversight of U.S. financial institutions, which created ever more complex and risky mortgage instruments, lured people to buy homes they could not afford, and brought the economy crashing to the ground.
Motion on the Earth does not take place in a vacuum. When one thing moves, it moves through or across another. When a wheel turns on an axle, the two surfaces rub against one another. This is called dry friction. Grease can be used to separate the solid metal parts, but this just reduces the problem to layers within the grease sliding past one another.
There's more friction when the two objects are pushed together harder. If you push your hands together, it's harder to rub them up and down. If you pull the brake lever harder, your bike will stop faster. Because gravity pulls harder on things with more mass, things with more mass have more friction and are harder to move-a cube of iron will be harder to move than a cube of wood.