How dumb is Patrick McIlheran?

Trying to create a strawman of class resentment, Patrick McIlheran writes this: 

  yes, I know, hedge funds weren’t at all the problem in the crash, but they just sound sinister, so populism wants them to suffer

Now, it's not necessarily germane to his central (weak and ill-considered) point but it's just dumb. No, hedge funds were not the cause of the crash, but to deny they played a role is just, frankly, dumb.