Laura Rowley Money & Happiness

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 10:05PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Yep, as John Adams, one of our greatest founding fathers famously said: "Facts are stubborn things..." The FACTS here are that we've been screwed by the poor who bought what they could not afford; we've been screwed by the mortgage and finance industry who enabled them; then we've been screwed by the liberal-entitlement government entities who enabled BOTH! I have a slight variation on a wise old saying: Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man how to STEAL fish and you have the situation that we are in now.

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, October 20, 2008, 12:41PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

The US has paid for WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam by using equity, not income. In short, inflation - thank you Milton Friedman. Why would this debt be any different?

Barbara - Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 11:57AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

I think the root cause goes back to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, which opened the door for gov't to go into debt.

Rocco - Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 2:30AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 2/5

If Americans don't want make the same mistake twice and have responsible taxpayers bail out irresponsible financial decision makers, then lets plan for a rainy day next time and not be surprised by it. Let's not lend out money greater at 100% of value or 100 LTV and foolishly expect property values never to become over-inflated. Lets not continue with "No down payment loans" to spenders but enforce the historically conservative rule of requiring 20 to 30 percent down so spenders have no choice but to be savers. Realtor.com states that "No-down payment mortgages are riskier for the lender since the borrower doesn't have any ownership stake in the home and could become 'upside-down' if the value of the property dipped below the purchase price." They go on to say, "Lack of equity can be a big problem if the homeowner needs to sell the home because if the value of the home has dipped, the sale price might not be enough to pay off the mortgage." Yet we made the money available knowing the consequence of a depressed housing market causing massive upside down borrowers. Lenders, and Fannie Mae who is the ultimate lender, need to plan for a rainy day and not lend out 100% no-equity loans to prevent this crisis from happening again. We could blame the borrowers for consuming easy money just like we could also blame the dog for vaporizing the steak carelessly left in his dog dish. It is true that those spending dogs cannot control themselves, so next time let's not be surprised by the steak being eaten. Let's not provide easy money from hard-working people and put a end to the no-equity 100% financing policy that caused this housing crisis.

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, October 13, 2008, 7:59AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

John Doe, your comments were pretty good until you went into the Victim blame game poo poo Republican Rant. The age of thrift is here again. It's now cool to save and not over indulge. If you want to look for what the real cause of this mess is how about 5 Million Illegals who defaulted on Mortgages, Fannie and Freddie lowering standards for Mortgages ie sub Prime mortgages, Home equity loans (HELL), and some how that homeownership is a "right". The only rights we have are life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness. Look at these one by one and see who is in favor of taking these away. The Article does not go far enough the cause of this problem. Most with common sense or some wisdom could see this coming.

Yahoo! Finance User - Saturday, October 11, 2008, 11:06AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 2/5

Homeowning families Smiths and Jones, meet John Doe. He owns no home, dislikes borrowing and saves what he can. He lives in an apartment and drives a 20-year old subcompact car. He has a college degree from a state school, and he has a certificate. He is currently unemployed, having been laid off once from a 70 hour-a-week 30k/yr salaried job. Now over forty, he has a hard time finding work and is usually marginally or under-employed at jobs he has to dumb down his resume to get. He never married nor had kids because he believes in living beneath his means and feels he could never afford them. Since he has no wife and kids, his employers pay him less than the marrieds who are allowed to leave early to pick up their kids. In the past two years he managed to save $10k in his buy-and-hold IRA which he has seen this week decline to $7k. He has cashed in his IRA savings twice in the past 20 years already to pay for more schooling after incessant layoffs and job instability (downsizing, racial quota, middle management layoff, industry destruction). Perenially underemployed and with an average income of the high teens, he has never flipped a home but recently he is getting very pissed off at the homeowning, uni-party voting right wing moron breeders he is subsidizing, knowing that soon he will be forced to take a low-paying high stress job in a decaying inner city school teaching kids whose parents don't care about their children's education. Being skeptical and rational, he has seen his short sales repeatedly thwarted by a government policy intent on keeping a huge equities bubble alive, rather than letting a market. This hard working and educated person watches the SUV-driving Republican voting breeders who drive like they own the road and who think Palin is just wonderful and wonders if he is better off dead or just in another country that has some integrity and respect for intelligence, culture and honesty.

Yahoo! Finance User - Friday, October 10, 2008, 8:33PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

The root cause of our financial debacle is Congress and its puppet Federal Reserve and FMae / Mac, not the recklessness of bankers or borrowers. The latter committed the acts but are nonetheless an EFFECT of the former that created the environment enabling and encouraging recklessness in the first place. We are now seeing a collapsing skyscraper of cards built on ersatz prosperity floating on politically-motivated credit expansions. The similar credit-induced boom of the 90s was a soap bubble compared to the blimp deflating now despite futile efforts to patch it. The current crisis is the result of a sub-market interest rate combined with wanton expansion of a fiat money supply, diluting wealth further drained by taxes that no longer fund tangibly-productive activities. This is fundamental, thus everything else being discussed is secondary. The politicians focus on details and empiricisms instead of basic principles to create a smokescreen preventing Joe Public from seeing reality; they focus on pixels (details) to prevent people from seeing the picture (objective logic). The politicrooks then pour gasoline on the fire by instituting "reforms" and bailout voodoo that only further dilute the currency, and which cannot, due to its coercive essence, spur activities capable of creating real value on net to back the newly minted dollars. The bailout is a criminal-minded numismatic money-shuffling game. Congress then musters the gall to consider nationalizing the banks, a small step into the already Fascist / Corporatist essence that characterizes the U.S. banking "industry".... illustrating how those who pull the strings talk "business" yet have no desire to reveal the antithetical relationship between value and coercion, thus have no concept of the difference between Capitalism and Fascism. If banking were free of the corrupting regulations pitting legislated "value" in discord with genuine choice-based valuations, competitive factors would establish the cost of money at levels of risk averting reckless behaviors in the first place. Since this is a fundamental point, the gross distortions of value and risk would have been mitigated regardless of the industry or type of financial instruments involved, which makes all the talk about derivatives, shorting, margins, etc. entirely secondary. Regulation is a basic concept whose effects are similar across all industries - eliminating factors of competition, increasing costs, distorting valuations, displacing market accountability, etc, often with the unintended consequence of undermining public protections. The sum result is the elimination of competitive forces that otherwise increase the difference between value and cost i.e. increase value addition, measured by earnings, the basis of a healthy economy. Anything transferred or imposed coercively, whether taxes, subsidies, or regulations undermines value addition. Examples of regulatory effects are the telecom and airline industries which, prior to deregulation, were bloated, high-priced public-leeching realms that did not offer the favorable pricing, quality, and options that are now readily available. Many thought deregulation would lead to higher prices, reduced safety, lower quality, etc. The record shows how mystically illogical these notions about free markets and deregulation are. Because those examples involve huge markets and basic services, they are not exceptional cases supporting the principle just because of certain demographics, technologies, etc. No, the universality of those examples logically supports the principle; the larger the model, the more closely it approximates reality. The financial sector is even more economically fundamental than telecoms or airlines. Get the coercive essence of government out of the marketplace and, lo, things becomes democratic, additive of value, and genuinely beneficial to society.

myrontokachi - Thursday, October 9, 2008, 8:29PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 2/5

If you are going to talk about the root of the problem, you have to go much further back to the source of the credit that people abused. The increase in credit is the result of the imbalance in the financial accounts of the balance of payments resulting from our trade deficits plus the mounting federal debt jacking up the money supply. Both of these factors left banks with an excess of reserves and looking for ways to loan them out. Well guess what, people took them up on their offers of easy credit. Now, the powers that be are saying that increased liquidity is the answer to the problems caused by an excess of liquiditiy. Well now THAT makes a lot of sense doesn't it!

Lisa - Thursday, October 9, 2008, 1:45PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

I feel AIG's former CEO has the right idea of offering to buy shares of the stock. Neither admitting or denying any wrong doing but this puts it all back on his shoulders and the money bank in the bank, lessening the deficit. He can make it or break it. He can lose or win depending on the bank operations. All of these banks prior CEO's should be given the option to buy shares, putting the money back into the bank. The current share value is not worth what it used to be when they so called earned this salary. Make it or break it. They need to be held accountable for their actions. But the problems go deeper than just the banking industry. The government opened Pandora's box by allowing immigrants into our country. This has forced the US to grow quickly. Houses popped up over night as well as business, trying to accomodate the area needs. The businesses benefited by hiring these immigrants who work for less money. This has taken jobs away from the americans and forced wages down. But with the population increasing rapidly, cost of living has gone up. The government does not need to own shares in the banks either. I think they control enough of our money. Social Security for one, its mandatory.. and look what they did with that. It wont be available more than likely when I retire but I have to pay into it because they mismanaged the funds. Now, own shares in our local banks.... Ha ha! The banking industry has really screwed up & taken advantage of us and the government allowed it to happen by over-looking many flaws & lack of regulations. Take a look at the credit scoring system.. Is it fair? Accurate? Hardly! Calculate the avg's & figure it out for yourself. Who benefited?? The banks. Longer terms, higher interest rates, higher monthly payments & larger down payments... result in default eventually. A bad remark can do damage, severe damage. But those who make neg. reports to your credit, are they also reporting all of the payment history for the duration of the account, including the good?? NO. They should... this will increase our credit ratings, lower our rates & terms and perhaps... no or fewer defaults/foreclosures. Fix the credit scoring system, make it fair & accurate. Allow us to qualify for better rates & terms and keep our homes, cars and allow us to pay our debts and save money for tomorrow. Its bad enough we're fighting for a job at McD's for $7 with an accounting degree & salary history of $120/hr which has reduced itself to nothing. Thats if there even are any positions out there to be had. We're over populated! We're underpaid! We are competing with immigrants w/no degree because they work for less and live 20 per household in a 2 bedroom house in ghettoville. Open up the job market, let the companys compete for us by having wage wars, let the sellers need us to buy, and the banks need us to finance! If you were not born american... we can no longer help you! We must help ourselves first! Go home! This is our home! Our country and we're fighting to keep it that way!

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 10:56AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Very well put. I too am a fiscally responsible citizen that now has to standby and watch helplessly as the money I earn and forcefully must turn over is spent frivolously to save the inept. In light if this suicide bill I find myself redefining my American Dream to that of finding a way to become completely independent of this cesspool we call a government. Thank you Mr. Bush.

Steve - Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 2:50PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Not all of the American people are at fault, but ALL OF THE AMERICAN people shall pay. We live in a society that rewards profligate spending and the accumulation of debt. Providence and frugality are scorned. And those who got themselves into trouble DEMAND that the rest of us bail them out. The tyranny of the government toward the provident due to the errors and demands of the spendthrifts shall tear the country asunder.

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 9:48AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

Again its the "American people fault" so its almost 'blameless". There is a blame and there is someone making money off of this and its not the "American People". I just love how the Federal Reserve is pushing crooked mortgage lenders to defraud Americans.

Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday, October 2, 2008, 10:31AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Good article. It puts an explanation on this crisis. To the person who posted on 9/30, unless he is over 65, he shouldn't talk. I am part of "the youth of this generation" (23), and I graduated with a college degree and no student loan debt. I also have a zero credit card balance and a decent retirement account. The baby boomers have just as much financial irresponsibility as the "youth".

Mark - Thursday, October 2, 2008, 10:13AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Excellent article about the perils of debt. Unfortunately, after a short bout of democracy in the U.S. House, it appears that tomorrow the rich will get their bailout. I see Warren Buffet invested $3 billion in GE, and good old Jack Welch has hit the airwaves in force for the bailout. I bet GE will get a huge chunk of that $700 billion to bail out what I think is an earnings-managed, Ponzied-up unit called GE Capital. When will it end, and when will the shrinking middle class have had enough?

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 7:36PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Dow 8000 Banks didn't cause this mess, they merely provided the nuse with a VERY long rope attached to it. People hung themselves along with the entire US economic model as it stands today. The message of 'go out and spend - it's the best thing you can do for your economy' needs to be balanced with 'we want you to spend but in a reasonable and balanced manner'. Wake up people! This greedy generation is morgaging the financial futures of our children. And with the youth of today wanting everything for nothing and not willing to take the time to or commitment to earn it we are in for some scarey years ahead.

John - Friday, September 26, 2008, 2:44PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Laura, good stuff as always. Quick thoughts, sorry for grammer: I've read a lot of statements opposed to a bailout. In principle I agree, but the reality is it has to happen, in one form or another. We can do nothing, watch the dow fall to 8000, and more importantly watch 8 million jobs go down the drain in the next year (liquidity and solvency are big issues, and lots of jobs are dependent on them). Or we can do our best to get the money where it will do the most good and the least harm to the American taxpayer and the American worker. $700B is a lot of money. There will likely be some Keynesian stimulus as a result, though it would not be optimized based on the proposals I'm aware of so far. This is $4K per taxpayer, or thereabouts. As a married taxpayer, that's $8K I'll be paying in future taxes, and due to several emergencies of the past couple years, my emergency fund isn't doing so hot. But put the $700B or some sum to work, give these firms a breather (on terms dictated by and for the taxpayers), and maybe a year or two of cash flow can repair the worst of the damage, maybe we don't see a depression in this country.

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 6:15PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

"Greed" is the root of all evils...... Nobody would bail me out if I am in financial troubles. This is the government of the richers, by the richers and for the richers. Congress with people we elected are all inference by lobbyist and campaign contributions. USA is exactly follow the footsteps of Japan in late 1980s. Banks have huge real estate loans on their books. Today (18 years later), their NIKKEI Index still less than 40% of Dec. 1989 high. I am expecting a sharp decline on equity. It may not recover for next 20 or more years.

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 2:11PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

Nice writing style, but the content is extremely misleading. True, the few Americans who foreclosed on their homes had a role in this mess, but only about a 2% role....those that truly created this enormous debacle are the very people demanding Congress to approve a 700B bailout...the wealthy investors through their high-stakes gamble that over sold people would default on their loans....it was a suckers bet on the parts of the banks, the billionaires knew those with ARM loans would default so it was an easy gamble of just 2 cent to earn $200 when these few people went bust. It's called shorting the market, and it was done through Credit Default Swaps...........now these billionaires want to be paid for their bets. If the banks fail they don't get paid...and they shouldn't get paid by the middle-class responsible taxpayers either! This has got be the biggest scheme ever to transfer wealth from the middle-class to the upper-class by using the poor as a pawn. Let the banks fail....new one will pop up with different names and everything will be okay, except for the elite.

Steve - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 11:20AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Laura always seems to provide more pithy content than any of her more well-educated piers on Yahoo. Well done. We need to be putting the brakes on this bailout or we will be looking at the biggest increase to the national debt (like 20% in one shot) in history. Either that or I am going to start trading in my cash for a food and ammo stockpile and riural property (slight exxageration).

PK - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 9:20AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

Good up to a point. Yes consumers borrowed irresponsibly, but the bankers and brokers utterly failed in their responsibilities becaus there was all that nice gooey money to be made with this corrupt ponzi scheme. They booked future "profits" when the deals were made, not when the money actually came in and gave themselves big fat bonuses and stock options. Now all those illusionary profits have gone up in smoke and they are belly up to the trough for a government hand out. These are the same people and institutions that believe in a sort of economic Darwinism for the likes of you and me and lobbied congress to make personal bankruptcy into a kind of economic servitude. The latest "bailout" plan (as originally offered) would give the secretary of the treasury discretion and powers without oversight or review by our elected representatives or our courts. that is called dictatorship and this is a quiet coup. The crap that we the people are about to become owners of was written off 95% by the Nationa Austrailian Bank. They valued it at 5 cents on the dollar. This stuff is such garbage that no sane investor or institution will buy it at any price. AIG went bankrupt because they insured this crap and didn't have the capital to pay up and NOBODY would loan them the money to stay afloat! We now own 85% of a sucking black hole of debt. This "bailout" is going to make debt slaves of every man, woman, and child in this country. (I have read estimates of up to 5 TRILLION dollars as the ultimate total cost. You do the math.) Foreigners who buy our debt are backing away from the table, the dollar is tanking and setting us up for another round of horrific inflation. this is far far from over. All of this was predictable if you actually read something instead of listining to MSM. There are credible people in the financial community who have been predicting just such an outcome but they were marginalized and labled nut jobs. NONE of them think this "plan" will work. Your elected "representative" were too busy licking the boots of the bankers and the brokers for campaign contributions to actually exercise any oversight and assurances asside, they won't protect you now. WAKE THE F UP! This is the economic equivilant of Katrina and we all live in New Orleans. Some of the most responsible economic advisors and writers I pay attention to are saying get out of the market and buy food and bullets. Even the agnostics are praying.

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 9:09AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

This was a pretty good read. However, I am very skeptical of anyone who cannot mention the effect of Clinton changing the rating process for banks under Community Reinvestment Act. The CRA was well intended and justified, however; it is disingenuous to pretend like changing that rating system from a "process" oriented review to a "results" oriented review did not contribute to banks getting "creative" in their lending requirements. Once one bank gets creative and steals market share, others will follow or perish, greed and survival took over from this point. Of course, once the "creative" loans were originated they were quickly unloaded into the secondary mortgage market It is a fact that government regulation forced large banks to engage in lending practices they would've otherwise avoided and I find it peculiar that people avoid mentioning... ergh refuse to acknowledge that. It is fun to blame deregulation sure, it leads to more government regulation, but is regulation never to blame for anything?

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 2:39AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

Some good points, but the real problem is financial ignorance. Americans pay so much more to debt than they should simply because they are uneducated. The financial institutions who are robbing you blind will not educate you how to quit overpaying them. You will have to educate yourself. I would start at www.maxhouse.com.

Steve - Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 5:58PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 2/5

Sue, you make the same mistake everyone else is being encouraged to make. The roots of problem don't lie with the housing boom. They lie with the creation of a central bank that is given a monopoly on the creation of purchasing power. Government gives them that power in exchange for an unlimited access to money that does not have to be accounted for. It is provided through inflation. This is why it has grown so fast and taken over so much of the economy in a historically short time. The public reason for the creation of the fed is to avoid market instability and runs on banks. With a lender of last resort, banks can create money at will to shore up failing insolvent banks. We have a faith based currency. People are beginning to lose faith in a currency that declines in value 15% in a year and a half and 95% since the fed was created. This phoney money adds too much liquidity, prices get bid up, investment gets misallocated and the whole thing eventually comes crashing down. The Tulip mania, the Missippi Bubble, the Great Depression, the dot com stock bubble, the housing bubble - all caused by the same thing. But, that's not what we're talking about... is it? I wonder why.

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 5:01PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

"Loading up the nation with debt and leaving it for the following generations to pay is morally irresponsible,... Excessive debt is a means by which governments oppress the people and waste their substance..." Thomas Jefferson "We need to have an Ownership Society" (where you, the people, own all the risk and me and my buddies own all the profits) George Bush ***Dump Bush, Cheney, McCain, & Palin NOW!!!!!!!! ***

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 12:47PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

A great deal of skepticism is required. Wall Street is taking advantage of Congress and the American people. This trumped up mess, leaving Congress only days to approve the “fix” that Wall Street and the administration has been planning for months, plays both Congress and the American people as suckers. There are many missing links in the chain from this Wall Street mess to the direct impact on Main Street that have been only vaguely referenced. The American people will be the one’s directly harmed by this trillion dollar bailout. You know the administration will pass out this money like drunken sailors before the end of its term. Our taxes increase, prices will increase across the board, the American people will get no benefit and those responsible will be in a position to gain even greater profits than those they have already made. This is an unacceptable solution under any circumstances and moreso because we know neither if there is a real problem nor if this is a valid solution. A more responsible approach would be to examine the terms of those credit default swap agreements to determine if they are actually enforceable without any limitation on their values. By restructuring those agreements between the responsible parties so that the financial institutions do not need to write down their balance sheets solves the problem more directly and without affecting the American people. Call the bluff of those set to profit from those agreements that are causing this problem. Let them know that they will be unable to collect on those ridiculous agreements and demand that they renegotiate. That puts the parties at fault for the “crisis” in charge of resolving it rather than putting the solution on the backs of Americans who derived no benefit from these transactions. There is no reason why current management of those institutions responsible for this mess should be rewarded for their mismanagement by bailing out their misdeeds. Let the free market work to pick up the pieces and create new, better systems when the foundations of these financial institutions crumble. The bail out sells out not only this generation, our children and grandchildren but also creates a block to possible solutions to those issues that really impact the future of this country like alternative energy, national security, health care and any other program that may need some funding in the future. This “crisis” was timed to obtain a panic reaction from you and all of Congress and soak up all available resources so the next president and Congress will have nothing to work with. Do not allow this fake crisis to mortgage the future of this great country.

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 10:05AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

"Will savers regret putting money away all these years?" --As for me, no, I do not regret saving for one instant, even though it looks like I and my fellow savers will pay more than our fair share of the cost for others' imprudent financial decisions. I've already felt the benefit of saving, in the many years of peace of mind my savings has given me. I like my job, but I have long felt the comfort of being able to tell my boss to "go to hell" if I didn't. I do not hesitate to speak up in support of my principles. That's worth much more than a widescreen HDTV, though I'd like one of those, too--maybe next year. I've been watching the slaughter on Wall Street with fascination for the last week and a half, but have not bought or sold anything. My short-term financial interest is also undisturbed by the current crisis. Even if everything does go to hell, I've lived well enough and saved well enough to have no regrets.

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 9:32AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

For what it's worth, I believe the real problem stems from two things -- (1) Americans no longer feel they have to work for "The American Dream;" they want it handed to them via zero down payment/ARM/interest only mortgages, and (2) a complete and total lack of financial education at the high school level.

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, September 22, 2008, 11:37PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

If you lied on your loan docs, you deserve anything that happens to you, just as the Wallstreet firms that didn't carefully assess risk deserve their fate as well.

Been there - Monday, September 22, 2008, 5:35PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

Maybe this is the end of the "Reagan" legacy? Business left to its own ends will do what is "necessary" to compete, and sadly that competition is reduced to having more "customers" than the competition, whether these customers are capable is a different problem, and under the old model a certain number of defaults were acceptable (and even profited on) this however is the rub. There's no way to profit from this mess (except the upper levels that will see bonuses this year end one way or another). To think that regulation of freedie and fannie in 2005 would have prevented this mess doesn't take into account the true depth of the problem. Think to overbuilding in the West in the 80s, saving and loan crisis, bubble after bubble in the ensuing years, enron and yadayadayada. These were all caused by easy money and limited regulation and all illustrate the excesses our "free" market is susceptible too. The market would eventually wring these out (in the long term) maybe its all just a failure to realize what that means and at what cost!

Paul - Monday, September 22, 2008, 4:50PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

All Americans need to understand that the Democratic Congress opposed and killed reforms to Fannie and Freddie in 2005 that would have stopped this financial meltdown before it happened! McCain was one of the 3 co-sponsors of the bill! Lets stop blaming Bush for this mess. I really don't care who wins this election (both are mediocre although O'Bama is way to far left for me) but we need to hold Congress accountable for this mess!