[expat_panama]

...banks, hedge funds, pure mortgage lenders, anyone not a deposit taker was free to do exactly as they pleased...

While many say that, the "Bush-fault" idea is still controversial:

• ... pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low ... Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities  http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html
• The Clinton administration has turned the Community Reinvestment Act, ... chairman Phil Gramm memorably put it, a vast extortion scheme against the nation's banks. ... hard to imagine that banks couldn't instantly figure out how to market to minorities ... Bank examiners would use federal home-loan data, broken down by ... http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html
• The result was a banking system suffused with junk mortgages, the ... pressure from the Clinton administration to increase lending to minorities ....  http://spectator.org/articles/42211/true-origins-financial-crisis

Considering how the left is beginning this all over again now (Obama Justice Department Forces Banks to Make Risky Loans) mho is that it's definitely now "all Bush's fault".

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Who decided it was a good idea to saddle the poor with a mortgage? I know there are benefits to owning your own home but just like everything else there are pros and cons. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck taking on a huge payment for the next 30 years is not a plus. It also limits their re-location possibilities. Renters can move a lot more freely.