History teaches us that everyone wants everything, to hell with the consequences. Do you think that people in the past didn't TRY to get more from the candy store than they could afford? Only, back then, the candy store owner was more cautious, and the ADULT in the room, forbade him to loan it.

You can take that as proof that we behaved better in the past, but human nature being what it is (pretty unchanging, IMO), I simply take it as proof that without the stringent controls on the lending industry, things would have been just as bad then as now...