[Iconoclast2]

What happened is that the real villian of this piece, naturally never identified, the Federal government, created a complex web of institutions to eliminate the risk to the banks.

[joesbucks]

I sell real estate. However, there is not one person who wants to hear the "no" word. Our overheated consumer society has created an instant gratification mentality. My wife's son in law wants us to take him to see homes that are way out out of his price range due to income. Yet he's got financial institutions that will lend him the dough. We're now on his sh*t list because we keep telling him he should be looking at lower cost homes. But who do you think he will come to when the boat starts sinking? worse yet, what will he say when we won't or can't provide the pump to bail him out?