That's exactly what the zeitgeist was in 2007. The "smartest" guys were loading up on collateralized debt obligations. They were the sure thing. The music was never, ever going to stop.
Something you need to realize is that the "smartest" in our society aren't really the smartest. They are members of a group that exists on inertia and a desire to maintain an egotistical and social incumbency. They rarely suffer real consequences, least of all from their own decisions and actions.
These are the same kinds of people who looked at Elizabeth Holmes' business idea and were going to have your health decisions guided by someone who couldn't finish a bachelor's degree in biochemistry, or any other bachelor's degree. They were in tech, they were in academia (though apparently not at the University of Missouri [0]), they were in finance, they were in media. These phenomenons build upon themselves because it's a bunch of people in a club who can't admit to each other that the lemonade is really piss.
When there are questions being posed by people who are actually informed, who don't have a vested interest, those questions need to be answered. Even if the answer is "piss".
[0]https://www.darkdaily.com/2019/07/15/skeptical-missouri-path...