Credit Crisis: "What a revoltin' development this is!" Ed Norton used to say when things went bad on the old "Honeymooners" TV show. And that certainly expresses the sentiments of all Americans this week.

Yet, in our search for villains amid the full, repulsive rot of this mortgage and financial crisis, we must first look in the mirror.

As our baby-boom generation created and approved the greatest period of economic expansion in U.S. history, our cautious, Depression-era parents counseled us on the excesses in which we wallowed, or wanted to wallow. Yet we viewed them as pessimistic and backward. We, after all, had the vision.

Now, as we boomers reach retirement age, downsize our homes and battle age or illness, we find our parents' worst fears before our eyes. It truly is a revoltin' development to realize we brought this crisis on ourselves and that, yes, some of us must pay. We need to stand up and be accountable.

We all fear increased government regulation and involvement in our lives. But we also realize that some crises are too big and expensive for anything else. This is such a crisis, and, fortunately, we have two very qualified people to orchestrate a rescue.

Treasury Secretary Paulson understands the nuts and bolts of businesses and every corner of our complicated financial system. Fed Chairman Bernanke is a pragmatic professor and respected economist who has studied the Depression and how to avoid another.

Not surprisingly, certain all-knowing members of Congress tell us we need to slow down and "get it right." But holding incessant hearings in hopes of finding a magic pill is ridiculous. It's time for action. A cut artery requires a tourniquet, not more opinions.

Congressional leaders contend that Wall Street is to blame and must be punished. Yet they're the ones who during the Carter years approved the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to make many more subprime loans.

And it was President Clinton who dramatically accelerated the rules that coerced banks to make far more subprime loans to people who couldn't normally qualify.

Three of every four foreclosures have involved these subprime loans. Most should never have been made, but big government mandated that they be made or else. Once again, a big government with the best of intentions created terrible unintended consequences. It was big government that started the whole mess.

Yes, Wall Street was eager to provide the liquidity and the blindfolded credit standards the public wanted. And yes, many people profited handsomely. But ask the stockholders and employees of Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros., Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch and AIG if they have paid the price. Some were "bailed out" for 10 cents on the dollar and granted loans at punitive interest rates by the government. Punishment has been swift, ruthless and painful. The marketplace has already spoken; politicians needn't have.

We also hear rants about oversized executive pay. The reality is that employees at the very top of every industry are offered vast sums of money and generous contracts by businesses eager for their services and skills.

Is Alex Rodriguez worth $275 million over the next 10 years or Julia Roberts $20 million per film? The answer is yes. That's what their employers feel they can pay them and still earn a profit. If they don't produce, their next contract will be smaller or nonexistent. That's the way free enterprise works.

Accountability will free the process from this search for the villains. Those of us who signed those risky mortgages on houses we couldn't afford did so with eyes wide open. Others who refinanced houses they bought years ago, mistaking the sacred family home for a piggy bank, eagerly put the pen to the lenders' papers.

To blame such bad decisions on "predatory lenders" may be ludicrous. Sure, they were eager to accommodate us, and some were "bad guys," making them complicit as well. But they did not hold a gun to our heads.

Mortgage arithmetic is pretty basic, so none of us can say we "didn't understand." We just screwed up. We took our eyes off the ball and turned greedy. Our financially cautious and backward parents can now say "we told you so." We must hang our heads, acknowledge our mistakes and take our medicine.

So let's get on with it. We, the taxpayers, want action. We need and want government's help to stem the bleeding and restore the pulse of our financial system so we can begin to grow our economy again.