Good ol dems caused this. The NYT in 1999 precicted this financial melt down back in 1999
Thanks for the post. Perhaps lending to the less qualified coupled with little or no regulation caused a good part of this mess. First time i have seen anyone quote the NYT as an authority on this site.
I hate the NYT, I figure it is a far left liberal rag. I quoted it becuase I was shocked they actually had something right. I was also shocked that they have not pulled the link or article from their web site.
While Clinton was pushing for the Sub prime and writing loans to less qualified low income people, they are not the only ones to blame.
Many middle class Americans took out Teaser Rate Arms on 250K homes when they could only really qualify for a 150K home on a traditional mortgage. They gambled they would get a promotion, pay raise or the home value would go up. Neither happend, the low rate adjusted up, and now they can not affored the home note, and the home is now worth less then the owe.
Many investors did the same gamble the middle class guy did.
So now we have three groups defaulting on their mortgage.
Had they all had to put 20% down like before 1999, how many would walk on their loan? Had they all had to have good credit, how many would walk on their loan?
My home has lost 80K in value over the last 2 years. However with my 24% down in 2002, I still have lots of equatiy in the home. Most all the homes with zero down, and ARMS in my neighborhood are up for sale, and they are upside down in the home. These are the people that were living check to check in a home they could not afford to begin with.