The late comedian Eddie Cantor once said (circa 1930s) that the only difference between playing the market and playing the ponies was that one of the horses was bound to win. Perhaps those times have come again. So soon we forget eh? The same "our money is gonna double overnight", and "you can't miss with this opportunity" mindset was present in stock speculation (on margin) in 1929 - for students of history - as is present in the current housing market (also on margin). There was never a better time to live below your means.. Cheers.

Henry Lucas, Wash, D.C. ,

sad, and terrible news, banks in the haste to satisfy shareholders along with other lending agencies are keen to give the buyer an umbrella when its sunny, but when it rains they take the umbrella away. what is needed is a structure like the third world debt countries get. help those who are in trouble restructure, reduce lending interest rates, banks and others to help redress the balance. If the USA gets into trouble we all will.

philip parkinson, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Just the start of another harvest of the public's wealth. Remember Greenspan encouraging U.S. citizens to take out floating rate mortgages as he saw little upside risk. All of this is planned, if you get people into debt they become vulnerable and they are so concerned about their own situation they have little time or will for protest, in the meantime the moneylenders confiscate the public's assets with funds provided to them by the Central Banks and hold these until the market recovers. If you think the World is run by people who care for others you are completely wrong, the World is run by racketeers.

ADScott, Bangkok, Thailand

Do not be so harsh on your fellow countrymen. Just as over here in the UK, the politicans are as much to blame.
Anyone pointing out the folly of lending large amounts of money to those with obvious problems in repaying such sums were accused of either racism, elitism,ageism etc etc
Both charges readily made by attention (and vote seeking) politicans and their ilk.
Needless to say those selfsame politicans will not pick up the bill (tab)

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

greed always wins out for a while. Common sense takes a back seat.

ben barr, cornwall, ca/pei

Well I told you so, (and everybody else).

Bob Burnit, Midlothian, Texas

Ha ha ha ha ha - tis but mirthly delight to watch this sophisticated greed turn into the slime bucket it really is. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The misfortune of shortsighted economics commonly known as globalization, of which financial schemes like hedge funds and the like are but collateral damage, can only continue to grow as the demon of capital and its addiction to slave labor destroy the stolid, alienate neighbors, pit nation against nation and, eventually, suck everybody dry for the profit of an ever diminishing cadre of obscenely rich and clever gnomes.

Phil Ceretto, Milwaukee, USA

It was all planned, in my humble oppinion. Alan Greenspan allowed sub-prime morgage rates to linger to low for too many years. Millions and millions of people bought homes they really could not afford. Now, their're loosing those homes and the lenders are mopping up.

oscar m. coile, Byron, USA Ga.

The finicial world brought this on themselves, by letting people that couldn't afford to buy homes,falsely qualify for a teaser loan. Sure we sold homes & stimulated the economy, putting a lot of good people in finicial distress. These subprime lenders should never had been allowed to operate, Greed & stimulating the economy got us into this mess. Time for a realistic correction in loan procedures. We should forgive the imposed penaltys & let these people keep the low rates & their homes. Simple 5th grade math indicates that this would be less of a burden on the economy than the path that we have chosen, to forclose on entrapped loans. Better get real we can't have our cake & eat it too at the expense of fellow american home buyers Just fix it & lets bite the bullet & move on, the sooner the better.!!!

Cliff Hess, Houston, Texas