I agree that it ain’t gonna happen, brian, but I do hear people claim that fixing what caused our current problems is very complicated and will take lots of time, and probably can’t work all that well etc. That’s all bunk. It would be quite easy to fix most of the problem through tough downpayment rules – the people (mostly in Congress) who could do so just don’t want to.
As for the gullible being taken to the cleaners, I disagree. In this case, the people who will be taken to the cleaners are
1. taxpayers, who will have to come up with the money to support all the debt we are incurring to keep the inflated asset price shell game going
2. net savers, who will lose to inflation as people in debt push every button to avoid repayment in full value of what they have borrowed.
Being in those two groups doesn’t require being gullible. Those of us in the first group are there without much of a choice. I am in the second group, too, and I can see how that makes me an easy mark. But if we have created a society where being financially responsible is punished, I think we need to change before other societies without this defect eat our lunch.
