Also, getting back to the theme of the thread, certainly the banks were enablers, but imagine a lender who didn’t use similar lending guidelines in the bubble market. There is no way they would have survived.

LOL! Do you think Countrywide, Wamu, Citi, Fannie, and Freddi are going to be able to survive now without some type of government bailout?

Yours is the most ridiculous housing bubble justification I have heard yet. Basically your trying to find a justification for having a bank implode in spectacular fashion after the bubble bursts as opposed to a slow bleed (and maybe a failure) during the bubble.

By the way, I recently read an article about a locally-owned bank (in Ohio I think) that didn’t do any subprime or alt-a mortgages during the bubble. I think they had to tighten their belts a bit during the bubble, but they pulled through and today are doing good business lending to well qualified people that otherwise couldn’t get loans. If I can find the article again I’ll post it.

I am amazed at how many people on this board (supposedly a board full of intelligent people who are well-versed in the ways of the housing bubble) are willing to give the lending establishment a free pass here. Unbelievable.