Letters to the Editor
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It's a lot harder to have the courage to pop a bubble
Honestly, if the WH/Congress had stepped in while the rise in house prices was still lifting all boats, it would have been far more likely to be painted as "anti-poor."
So, while there were probably plenty of people that were complicit in their downfall, the banks were supposed to be the adults in this situation. That's not to say that people weren't very, very, very, predictably stupid. Taking a mortgage you can't afford when the payment resets because house prices always go up is stupid, especially after having witnessed a bubble burst around the turn of the century. Those people are likely to be punished enough--repossessions and at least 7 years of problems with credit. What really burns my butt is potential inappropriate selling--refinancing 65 year olds with fixed payments into negative amortization loans and the like--I don't know how big that issue is, but I'm hoping that the connection of big, greedy investment banks in ownership of some of the subprime companies may allow some of these (hypothetical perhaps) grannies getting put out on the street.
So regulators, get on it, before the lawyers beat you to it and get billions while each granny gets $48.56 in a class action settlement.