Evaluate the following statement: 'credit ratings agencies and saver households arejust as much to blame as investment banks when investment banks go bankrupt during the downswing phase of a financial cycle based on securitized assets’.

Personally I disagree completely with this statement. It is basically putting the blame on the victim. E.g. if someone robs you, the theft did something wrong and should be punished, not you.

The same applies here. Prior to the great recession, investment banks knew that they were doing wrong and that sooner or later things would bust. They were trying to get the most benefits that they could knowing that whoever was last in line would pay the consequences. A few years ago I watched a show were the contestants were required to answer questions while holding an inflating balloon. The one who held the balloon when it burst lost. The same happened with investment banks. E.g. bank A bought X securitized assets at $1 and sold them to bank B for $2. Then bank B sold them to bank C for $3. Then bank C sold them to bank A for $4. Then bank A sold them to bank B for $5. They just kept purchasing and selling the same securitized assets over and over again until Lehman Brothers collapsed and the game was over.

If the companies involved wouldn't have been tremendously huge banks, remember "too big to fail", their top management and board of directors would have been fired and prosecuted.

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