re: #188 ggt

The ARM’s and Refi’s WERE the MBS - bundled Mortgage Backed Securites sold as derivatives —no?

The majority of buyers had good credit scores, but the loans were untenable. People who should have known better were betting on the increase or stability of the price of their home as were Wall Street and the Government Regulators.

Everyone gambled and lost this one.

Thanks to my wife (the smart one), we went the other way.

The bank approved us for - and really pitched us hard to take - a million dollar mortgage. We ended up finding a house that costs under $300K and didn’t go crazy.

It was hard not to go crazy, with the bank offering you what seemed like free money and constant reassurances that the value of your house would never, ever go down.

A lot of people fell for it.