Let unframe this right now.

[Fovea]

When banks were making sub prime mortgages, they were calling it pursuing the American dream.

And I grew up to believe that the working class had the ability,. indeed the right to participate.

Then the sons of Gordon Gecko took over.

It was not a mortgage to a factory worker or a fast food manager that brought down the American Economy.
It was the fucking masters of the universe.

[BlooInBloo]

1. It wasn't subprime per se - that's just where the problem became *visible* first...

Prime foreclosures are now outpacing subprime.

[sandnsea]

2. It was using the mortgages as an investment scheme

And speculating them into the stratosphere, about a cazillion times worse than oil, that brought down the economy. The actual mortgages would have been fine if it weren't for that. There are lots of boomers selling and retiring and rebuilding that would have offset any bad mortgages.

[Lex]

3. when the economy started shedding jobs, foreclosures went up

and that's not rocket science