beats me wrote:WRONG! It's all about everyday Joes having access to easily accessible credit that allows them to live way beyond their means.
I don't give a fuck which country this happens in. FFS take some personal responsibility.

OK here are four stories about the Mortgage Crisis as it pertains to people I know and myself:
1. Personally I made out I guess, I bought a house for easily 1/2 what it was worth. I'm making roughly 1/2 of what I was before 2008, I rent out all the rooms in the place to young adults. It's rough, but I'm surviving.
2. My friend who encouraged me to go it alone as a solo contractor, well he's back in the union. He hates the union, total republican. He partnered up with a guy who had a multi million dollar excavating business that tanked big time in 08. He put all of the money from the successful sale of his first house into his second one, and is in the process of losing that house to the bank.
3. A union vietnamese guy I worked with saved $40,000 to put a down payment on a house. Took him ten years or so. He got married and had some kids. He was laid off for almost an entire year, and lost his house.
4. Last but least. A guy I know is pissed that his house is worth nothing, so he's letting it get eaten by the bank, because he has another house in a better neighborhood.
Basically not one of these people fit your narrow definition of scandalous greedy self serving types who were living beyond their means. I'm sick and tired of working slobs trying to blame people for doing the best they can. In fact the only person I feel is out of line a bit is the guy who has enough personal wealth to dump yet another house on a flooded market! Though you can't blame him for not wanting to take the chance I guess?
The real creeps here are the banks, the ones that can handle the "speculative" loss got 40K off my two ex coworkers and are sitting on those houses until the market goes back up, assholes.
Get a clue this isn't about losing a car to a lot because you bought the best one you could. It's about people buying a house when they thought their jobs were secure enough even in an inflated real estate market. That, and shitty fucks like the banker who kept on trying to give me a $2500 a month mortgage loan because for the previous three years I made more than enough to cover that.