It wasn't "1 person" it was millions of deadbeats. Saying this is ultimately the lenders' fault is asinine and implies adults are not responsible for their actions.
For what it is worth, I completely agree. I personally feel that the primary responsibility belongs to the lenders. Nobody can get a mortgage unless a lender a) has an appropriate product and b) specifically approves each individual borrower. Some lenders have deliberately structured products that for various reasons ignore poor credit, do not verify income, etc. A good analogy is actually credit card companies - it is amazing sometimes when you see how willing they are to lend money to a client that is already clearly maxed out with other revolving credit.
McDonalds doesn't make people fat and lenders didn't force adults to live beyond their means and sign legally binding contracts they either knew they couldn't honor or were too lazy/stupid to understand.
McDonald's would indeed be looking into the abyss if they had given away their cheeseburgers as the banks gave away money.
Seems to me that this is a bit like Enron only on a massive scale. Obviously the creators of these cdo's had the smarts to develop a "marketable" security, the dangers of which were missed by auditors, regulators and others in the industry. Perhaps the real question is why the market in these securities were allowed to become so huge without being traded on an open market. I doubt that folks would have had the experience of waking up to a balance sheet with overvalued, illiquid assets to an extent which threatened their ability to operate as a going concern.
Who is at fault? Most all of congress dating back 10-15 years minimum. Most connected with any aspect of the mortgage industry, right down to the appraiser that knew he/she was inflating the value of homes just to appease the bank. The scumbag telemarketers that preyed on those in the sub prime market. Activist, radical left groups like Acorn that brought legal pressure on mortgage companies to make loans to those that had little or no means to repay the loans. CNBC and the like who allowed the pump and dump to go unchecked. And finally, a good percentage of John Q public and his lovely wife Susie Q that lived beyond their means.
Correct. The average individual looks to banks, lenders and mortgage companies to steer them in the right direction. Not down the path of destruction. Good post El.
Specifically, the DemoCraps. RepubliClowns hopped on board later. BUT IT ALL STARTED WITH THE DEMOCRAPS AND THEIR DAMNED "AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LENDING"... They NEVER should have started it... should have never allow this to develop and fester...