I can't help it if you don't read much. I'm only the least bit interested in real estate and I've heard the saying "Drive till you qualify", i.e. start from an urban area and just drive until you reach a place where you can get a mortgage. That equals longer commutes, which equals more income put toward the purchase of fuel and so on. But, if you prefer to believe that bringing back some medieval doctrine on usury is the key to modern global economic growth, by all means knock your socks off. I'll stick with explanations that are a bit more concrete, like the price of oil.
And the reason why those no-doc loans became an issue is because of the oil price spike. Had oil prices not spiked, those loans would have continued to be paid. Have either of you ever heard of the distinction between "cause" and "effect"? You should check it out, it's really mind-blowing.
Another example and another reason of why Odumbo has no business being president. It was Capitalism and Liberty which made America the great country it was. It's State-ism/Socialism/Communism/Progressive-ism and the sense of entitlement which is sending us down the toilet.... that plus our rationalization to be involved in "wars" all the time... which is really an excuse to overspend on the military industrial complex and to run deficits which appear to goose the economy (inflationary, of course). I've come to HATE the way this country is being run!
I am no socialist but would be fine with the Clinton tax rates. That would at least help fill the deficit hole we are in. In general, I think that the top tax rates should only apply to the very top of the income scale, i.e., income in the multiple millions. I think most of middle class, even wealthy middle class (few million a year) should remain at around 35% or so.
Progressive tax rates, though politically popular and easy to sell to the unwashed masses, are DISCRIMINATORY!... and immoral. (IOW... If I make 10X what you make, I should pay 10X what you pay in taxes... not 50X.) If you valued genuine fairness, you'd see things differently.
If I am told that making 10 million a year will lead to a 40% tax rate, whereas making 2 million will be 35%, I will still work hard to try to earn 10 million. At the same time, I would make sure the tax money is being spent on important things that the markets can't take care of: basic research, infrastructure, health care, defense, education, police, etc.
he should be remembered in disgrace for the above, not the war in iraq. he paved the way for obama to run with the nanny state drug for the american people. pure disgust.
As a taxpayer, you can't "make sure of how the money is spent". Progressive tax rates are DISCRIMINATORY. We (well, not me... I mean YOU) moral and high-fallutin' idealists scorn discrimination based upon race, religion, gender, sexual preference... even even WEIGHT... yet we tolerate discrimination based upon INCOME. (America is against discrimination... both morally and legally.... except when it comes to income. Pragmatic, for sure.... still discriminatory and WRONG!!)