Eisboch wrote:

"BAR" wrote in message
...


Those with their arms out-stretched, palms up waiting for Uncle Sam to
drop a couple of pieces of government cheese in their hand.


It's hard for many to accept the fact that the primary reason for the
housing meltdown (sparking the general economic meltdown) had it's
roots back in the mid 1990's.

A well intentioned but flawed social objective to make home ownership
available to more people began the practice of sub-prime mortgage
lending. Banks don't take risks, so the only way to encourage their
participation was to provide them a safety net for these risky loans.
Enter Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The rest is history. It's not all Bush's fault just as it's not all
Clinton's fault. It *is* however a reflection of a more liberal
viewpoint, i.e. "creating" artificial opportunities via government
intervention. It may sound hard and cruel, but if you don't work,
can't work or don't make enough to afford it, you shouldn't be
encouraged to buy it. But many were, and now everybody pays.

"Equal Opportunity Lender" shouldn't mean loans for everybody
regardless of your ability to repay. Ironically, those who so strongly
favored what became sub-prime lending now are screeching the loudest
about government oversight and a return to tougher lending practices.

Now I'll get the usual "I've got mine, so screw you" comments, but
that's not how I feel.
I really feel badly for those who became trapped in this phony
economics, particularly those who sincerely thought it was an
opportunity that they would otherwise not have. Unfortunately there are
also many who realized, "screw it, what do I have to lose?"

Eisboch


I think you are overstating the social engineering part here, and not
even mentioning the major causative effect, the greed of lending
institutions and their co-conspirators on wall street.

Keep in mind that since WW II this country has promoted low-cost lending
methods to help lower income households buy a home. I'm sure you recall
practically nothing down VA loans and minimimal down FHA loans. By thge
standards of those days, many of those loans were "sub prime."

The packaging, selling, repackaging and reselling of the more recent
"subprime" loans was a major factor in the recent financial downturn,
along with the greed of all the others who were players. I see what
happened more as a result of unregulated markets than expanding housing
opportunities to lower income buyers.