Home ownership is a positive thing. It vests the homeowner into the well-being of society and take positive economic actions. Kudos to Clinton for moving in that direction. That was the original intent of the lending practice. What is so bad about that? That is a deep-rooted American value.

As more and more people bought homes, the prices skyrocketed. And whenever there were any signs of a slow-down in any sector of the economy, the feds focused on boosting consumer spending. Homeowners were offered free cash to spend based on inflated prices of their homes. And everyone thought they had cheated fate and beat the system. So this is the real culprit and the hubris before the fall.

Most of the fed policies under Bush was based on boosting consumer spending. At times, it seemed it was their only metric for how the economy was working. Somehow or another, the virtue of saving was exchanged for the virtue of doing your part to spin the economy with your spending. People honestly believed this.

Although home ownership allowed for second and third mortgages to provide spending money, home ownership was not the problem. The problem was the imprudence and hubris of americans.

I don't think anyone should be bailed out of this. They should live and learn, and learn to live responsibly. It's all good! It's the nature of economy and the capitalism.