Bailout Boogie

Am I the only one amazed by the attempt to place the blame of this financial crisis on poor people who supposedly bought homes they couldn't afford? When we sold our last home we sat at the closing table and watched the buyers eyes well up with tears. She was in her early fifties and had never owned a home. My husband and I were concerned when they disclosed the interest rate of her first and second mortgage.

Mind you she was being represented by a real estate agent that attended her church who told her that as soon as the house increased in value she could refinance. ...

Two years later the price went down instead of up and she is doing everything she can to work out her loan and stave out foreclosure. The fact of the matter is if t she had qualified for a conventional mortgage at the prevailing rate of six percent instead of the eight and ten percent she was charged she could have afforded the home. The whole premise of subprime lending in which people without a down payment or less than stellar credit ratings are charged a higher interest rate never made sense to me. The lenders say it's because they are taking on more risks however I believe it caused more harm than good. So the question is was this woman victimized or should she have known better? Several states believe that far too many people were charged exorbitant fees on their loans and could have qualified for a conventional loan. States have initiated litigation to force mortgage lenders and banks to rework the loans.

See Bank of America announced "Home Ownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers". Finally a bailout plan that addresses main street and in my opinion focuses on the root cause of the problem. So the question is if there wasn't wrong doing why have they agreed to the settlement