Columnist Ray Kerrison was intrigued when a neighbor posed a question: “Have you noticed that the worst economic crisis of our lifetime was set off by people with the highest education? If they’re all so smart, how come they’re so dumb?” This prompted Kerrison to look into the university background of the main perpetrators of the subprime-mortgage implosion that set off the larger crisis, namely, officers at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, politicians who egged them on, and slack regulators.

Some of the main perps include James Johnson, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Richard Syron, Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Chris Dodd. Harvard ranks first in incubating these “best and brightest” who set the disaster in motion. But Princeton, Tufts, and University of Louisville also figure in the mix.

Kerrison aptly concludes:

The evidence here is overwhelming that a superior education can certainly rake in big money — tens of millions of dollars, in fact — but sadly it is no guarantee of competence, judgment, prudence, trust or integrity.
Especially in politics.