McSatire.

Page 6...has a schism developed yet? haha

Yes.

I certainly would not argue with that. There was a domino effect for sure. Supply shot through the roof once the financing was yanked out from under everybody. Prior to that, the only way the majority of buyers could afford these price points was through "creative financing" (liar loans etc.)

No income verification. No job verification. No normal debt to income ratio consideration. None of it mattered, since it was repackaged and sold with thousands of other loans as a mortgage backed security. They were playing hot potato and they knew it.

I knew plenty of people who had cash back then, who utilized these loans and ended up losing it all. They'd flip one house, pocket the money, then run out and get three more. These were middle-upper middle class people.

I'd also argue that MOST Americans, overwhelmingly, are cash poor. If the stipulation (even today) was that a home buyer must have six months of income in the bank, little to no credit card debt, and zero delinquencies, then nearly everybody would be renting. I also find that when people make more money, they're still broke, they just have nicer shit. Such is the American mindset, conservative or liberal, makes no difference.

Nobody forced the banks to give out loans. The banks gave out loans because THEY MADE MONEY and they were greedy. Who propped up the loans? Wall Street, that's who.

You think only poor people took out sub prime loans? Reminds me of my dickhead cousin, who lost all nine of his houses during the bust, then blamed the entire thing on the poor blacks. Funny how when it comes to personal responsibility, Republicans sure like to blame it all on the least among us. He was quick to brag about the money he made prior though. So when he was up, he was a genius. When he lost his ass, then it was everybody elses fault.

The free cell phone thing...started way before Obama btw. It was enacted in 1985 while Reagan was president.

The overwhelming majority of these loans weren't backed by any federal entity. They were "mortgage houses" set up with Wall Street money, who gave out loans, then immediately resold them to be re-bundled as securities. The ratings agencies were some of the biggest culprits of this disaster, because they awarded these dogshit securities AAA ratings. Ultimately though, many people were complicit in the bubble: Lenders, Wall Street financiers, ratings agencies, Realtors, appraisers, Mortgage brokers, and the buyers themselves.

I'm also tired of hearing that the Democrats "blocked" anything. 1) Show me one bill proposal put forth by the GOP to tighten up lending practices. 2) Explain to me how a minority party (GOP had the House/Senate/Executive at the time) was able to block this imaginary proposal? Nobody blocked anything, because there was nothing to block. If the GOP wanted to do something back then, they could have easily done it with little if any opposition.