re: #153 Bagua

That is a very partial and partisan summary. While those were factors, they were not the only or even the major factors. Nor did the various agencies collude to let this happen, rather, they failed to cooperate and coordinate which contributed to the disaster.

Agree. I’ll also add another factor that’s often overlooked: widespread economic naivete. The nation has an entire generation that has never, ever seen an economic downturn of any significance, who were blinkered into thinking that the Good Times not only wouldn’t end, but wouldn’t even slow down.

When a 25 year old recent graduate at our office mentioned that she and her husband were on their third real estate flip in less than three years, and held a mortgage on a house worth ten times their combined annual salary they had acquired with no money down and were “paying” less than the ever-accruing interest payments on the debt, I was horrified beyond belief. And there were several others in a similar situation, all thinking that, well, if they needed more money all they had to do was flip their house again and use the proceeds to pay off the existing mortgage and the excess to pay down their ballooning credit card balances. These are people who felt they were entitled, at the very beginning of their careers, to more house and more material possessions than their parents had amassed during an entire lifetime of savings and acquisitions.

That was roughly in 2005-2006. About the same time, on hearing that this was widespread, I started building up the cash in my long-term savings, figuring the end was nigh. I wish I had started a couple of years earlier.