There are many culprits in the current banking crisis. First there were the mortgage companies who pushed the sub-prime loans. There were hefty fees and increased earnings lifting the price of their stock. There were the homebuyers who were caught up in the frenzy of real estate speculation and were only too happy to borrow money they could not repay except from the ever-increasing home equity they believed they would receive.

As we prepared to launch InsideMoney.org, many friends asked a seemingly simple question, “Who is your audience?”  What they really wanted to know is whether we would be focusing on financial planners, economists or the public.