In his new book, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, University of Chicago economist Raghuram G. Rajan lays out the structural flaws in the US financial sector and government policy that put the nation in danger of economic meltdown.  He does not reject the notion that the behavior of bankers was a significant component, but he argues that there were systemic risks, or "fault lines," and that those risks still exist, as he writes in the introduction to the book:

Although I believe that the basic ideas of the freeenterprise system are sound, the fault lines that precipitated this crisis are indeed systemic. They stem from more than just specific personalities or institutions. A much wider cast of characters shares responsibility for the crisis: it includes domestic politicians, foreign governments, economists like me, and people like you. Furthermore, what enveloped all of us was not some sort of collective hysteria or mania. Somewhat frighteningly, each one of us did what was sensible given the incentives we faced. Despite mounting evidence that things were going wrong, all of us clung to the hope that things would work out fine, for our interests lay in that outcome. Collectively, however, our actions took the world’s economy to the brink of disaster, and they could do so again unless we recognize what went wrong and take the steps needed to correct it.

Rajan spoke recently at the Carnegie Council.  In this excerpt, he discusses regulatory reform and dealing with the 'too big to fail' problem:

Watch the full speech here.  

And read the introduction to Fault Lines here.