In Norway, 9 out of 10 American breakfast cereals would be required to be labeled and categorized as “candy.” Here, we say “Part of a healthy breakfast.” Mortgage ads say “You can own your dream home,” and people go “Where do I sign!” not “What’s the catch.”

People in trouble with credit are generally guilty of optimism That’s how human being work, and that’s what these corporate con men have exploited.

I have to say again: this post is not in favor of a bailout — the bailout has already happened. I want to see lower inventory and I want to see prices hit a final bottom so we can start earning equity again. More and more foreclosures probably mean your house is losing value, too, David. At the very least, it would make it hard to sell if you lost your job, or if life through you another sort of curveball.

I took out a safe, low-risk mortgage and live fairly modestly, and now you’re asking me for a bailout? I hear the Pine St Inn is quite nice in wintertime.

See, Enron was clearly illegal, but in this case the banks are guilty of influence peddling, which has been renamed “lobbying.” So by the time this scheme comes to light…it isn’t illegal. That’s the beauty of deregulation — do away with the laws and let the market take its course….

Now, my guess is that it would be the Justice Department’s job to look into that influence peddling…but that’s pretty much a social club these days, so probably no indictments to make us feel better about things.

But, yeah, in a perfect world, how about adding “impeach” to your list?

Anyone have an idea of how much a bank really loses on each foreclosure? In my experience it looks like they take a hit of about 30% on the property. Of course, that isn’t counting the 3 or 4 or more years of interest-only payments they’ve collected….