2010 figures are a bit out of date given the deficits the US has been running (the US has risen over 100%). I think the Economist actually has noticed the banking sector (consider this invited column from 2010:http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/guest-contr...). By and large, the shift in US politics to the right has the Economist looking like a left-of-Democrat newspaper these days. The idea that Obama is a "socialist" is, to anyone versed in a tiny bit of history or political science, laughable.
I believe The Economist paid lip service to the role of the financial sector in the collapse; but that's mostly my opinion; as you say, they definitely covered it to some degree. At least they're apparently starting to realise that chanting "cut public services" over and over isn't the answer.
One problem with the USA left-right false dichotomy is that when you pick a middle point between the Republicans and the Democrats, you end up with something that resembles no political party anywhere else (including in the USA's history); everyone else's right wing parties (and the Republicans in the past) resemble the Democrats or are even further 'left'.
As far as I can tell, there's almost no difference between Obama and (for example) Reagan based on the left/right scale; yet US conservatives generally idolise Reagan and demonise Obama. It's bizarre.
