Yes, there was greed from brokers who tried to fudge client documents in order to make more money on the back end of the deal, but the client him/herself had to go to the closing, where a lawyer sat and reviewed the entire loan with you (at least in Va that was the law), explaining concepts like ARM, etc. to you.

You may be of the thinking that “greedy” lenders deserve as much blame for today’s financial collapse, but as PR said, its their job to be greedy. The truth is, they wouldn’t be able to be “greedy” if you didn’t talk to them. Period.

You do this forum a disservice when you try to lump “greedy” lenders in on the blame. Don’t forget, you’re talking to people here who think that man’s ability to reason is king. The thinking that says, “poor people are victims” or worse, “African Americans are victims”, is EXACTLY why we’re in this problem.

Some of us have been sounding this alarm for many years, but no one listened. We became a caricature–something to laugh at and deride. The MSM coined us, “angry white men”.

PD, you may be caught up in that “predatory lending” thing, but too many of us here are not buying it.

And BTW: Sarbannes-Oxley didn’t materialize until 2003, and had nothing to do with the government strongarming of lenders in the 1990’s. SO is an accounting measure that arrived after the Enron scandal of the late 90’s, then prosecuted by none other than that evil, rich, protect-your-rich-buddies GOP President we know of as George W Bush. (Funny…If Ken Lay, Enron’s CEO, was a typical Republican fat cat, why did Bill Clinton chum around with him for his 8 years [Lay was Clinton's golf partner-no lie], yet Bush prosecuted him within the first year he was in office?)

Color me skeptical.

Consumer Loan Growth: 10%

According to monthly banking data from the Federal Reserve, consumer loans have continued to grow at close to 10% (year-to-year) during the entire recession (see bottom chart above, click to enlarge). Notice in the top chart going back to 1950 that the positive consumer loan growth during the current recession is much different than the significant declines in consumer loan growth in every of the last nine recessions except the 1982 recession.

As much as we hear about a “credit freeze” and a “credit crunch,” the consumer loan data through January 2009 suggest a slightly different story.

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/20.....th-10.html

The professor is being tongue in cheek when he says “slightly different story”.

There was robust growth in consumer credit throughout 2008, including the last few months.

So what did tank the economy? (I kid of course. The Moron’s handlers tanked the economy to destroy middle class achievers and permanently enthrone themselves as the commisars of Amerika.)

From the UK’s Telegraph:

Al-Qaeda founder launches fierce attack on Osama bin Laden

One of al-Qaeda’s founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for “every drop” of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq.

By David Blair in Cairo
20 Feb 2009

Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, who goes by the nom de guerre Dr Fadl, helped bin Laden create al-Qaeda and then led an Islamist insurgency in Egypt in the 1990s.

But in a book written from inside an Egyptian prison, he has launched a frontal attack on al-Qaeda’s ideology and the personal failings of bin Laden and particularly his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Twenty years ago, Dr Fadl became al-Qaeda’s intellectual figurehead with a crucial book setting out the rationale for global jihad against the West.

Today, however, he believes the murder of innocent people is both contrary to Islam and a strategic error. “Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers,” writes Dr Fadl.

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. “Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy’s buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?” asks Dr Fadl. “That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11.”

He is equally unsparing about Muslims who move to the West and then take up terrorism. “If they gave you permission to enter their homes and live with them, and if they gave you security for yourself and your money, and if they gave you the opportunity to work or study, or they granted you political asylum,” writes Dr Fadl, then it is “not honourable” to “betray them, through killing and destruction”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....Laden.html

I mean, imagine what that poor cat saw over the years……

So much happiness that neither Chelsea nor the Clintons could be bothered with him.

Here are a couple of our Socks related threads:

Dumped Cat Comes Back To Bite Hillary | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....o-bite-her

The Hillary Clinton Guide To Good Pet Care | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....d-pet-care

Socks, the Clintons’ White House cat, dies
Socks, the White House cat during the Clinton administration who waged war on Buddy the pup, has died. He was around 18.
Socks had lived with Bill Clinton’s secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, Md., since the Clintons left the White House in early 2001.
Currie confirmed Socks’ death Friday evening and said she was “heartbroken.” She did not give details, referring calls to the Clinton Foundation office.
The foundation released a statement from the Clintons:
“Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere. We’re grateful for those memories, and we especially want to thank our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years.”
Socks had reached his late teens — an advanced age for a cat — when reports surfaced in late 2008 that he had cancer and Currie had ruled out invasive efforts to prolong his life…
Socks was what feline-lovers call a tuxedo cat — mostly black with white down the front and belly and on his feet, suggesting a fashionable dandy in a black satin evening jacket with a snowy shirt peeping out. He had markings that looked a bit like a mustache and goatee.
Chelsea Clinton’s pet first appeared in the news in November 1992 after then-Gov. Bill Clinton won the presidency and the family was the still in the governor’s mansion in Little Rock, Ark. Socks became an early symbol of privacy-vs.-media in the Clinton era when photographers got a little aggressive as he took a stroll outside.
Life changed for Socks in the White House, when his easy access to the out-of-doors was necessarily curtailed. One official conceded that, yes, Socks was on a leash while outside.
Things took a turn for the worse in late 1997, when then-puppy Buddy, a chocolate retriever, arrived…
But their pairing enchanted pet lovers, especially children. In 1998, then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton put out a book of children’s letters to the two pets in “Dear Socks, Dear Buddy.”
…In the book, the first lady wrote she had been taking daughter Chelsea to a piano lesson in spring 1991 when they spotted two kittens in the music teacher’s front yard. “The black one with white paws — Socks — jumped right into (Chelsea’s) arms,” she wrote.
After the Clintons left in early 2001, Socks moved in with Currie. Buddy, meanwhile, made the move with the Clintons to Chappaqua, N.Y., but he was struck and killed by a car the following year.
Socks continued to live quietly with Currie, sometimes making appearances at programs held by pet welfare groups. Landau said Socks enjoyed sitting in the sun and that Currie doted on him, cooking him special chicken dinners.
Coincidentally, the White House cat in the Bush era, India, died Jan. 4 at 18, just weeks before Bush left office. Bush daughter Barbara, then 9, named the shorthaired black cat after former Texas Rangers player Ruben Sierra, nicknamed El Indio.
Like Socks, India had to share the White House with the canine side: the Bushes’ Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, who were immortalized in Internet videos.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....059S89.DTL

Being owned by two tuxedo cats myself (Ryan, a pound kitty rescued from ‘da hood is my avitar image), and thinking that Socks was the only good thing in the White House when the Clintons lived there, I can’t help but feel sad for this kitty’s death.

At least he knew real love with Ms. Currie versus being Chelsea Clinton’s prop.