What A Fine Kettle Of Fish

Things are happening with the speed of light concerning issues that have never been dealt with in this country. I feel that I am on the precipice of ecomomic nightmares. Things my father could only have dreamt about. He was there as a young man about 20 when the depression hit. I am an old man when this tsunami has issued its wrath. I have lost a carload of money from my future, many have lost much more. The question remains, how did we get here? I have a few observations coming from a guy who made a mere pittance in the mortgage business in late 2001-early 2002. I could have made you a deal that would have financed 120% of what your house was worth. All you had to do was take out a loan at a higher interest rate (good for me) and pay more closing costs (also good for me). I could also give you a mortgage at an incredibly low rate. But, with time, that mortgage percentage will probably double and most likely triple. You'll love me then but hate me...right about now. But, no, you wanted that house you couldn't afford at a ridiculous rate, because it was your right to own a house along with the fact that you wanted it and you wanted it NOW! Because you wanted that house now, the loan officer signed you up and shipped your loan to Washington Mutual. Because you wanted that house now, WaMu bundled that loan with other bundled loans and shipped it to an another lender that did the same thing. They traded and bought your house like a commodity. While all this was going on, you found out the hard way that you couldn't afford the mortgage and the personal mortgage insurance that went with it and you fell behind on your payments; slowly at first then it increased along with your mortgage rate like I told you it would. Now, you can't pay the payments, then you return it to the bank who then has to sell it at a loss. That is, if there is a buyer. With all the empty houses on the market, the bank can't sell it. The bank now eats the loss. Combine that by 1,000,000 and that's the main reason we have witnessed the catastrophic mess we are in. All are complicit in this ruse. The mortgage companies that pushed the sub prime loans,the feds who fiddled while Rome burned and the American public. Never underestimate the selfish foolishness of the American people. It's called a starter house for a reason. My mother and father never lived beyond their means. I have tried to follow that example.