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Most people don't have the financial wisdom to judge "too good to be true" on a macroeconomics basis. Specially not before the bubble burst, when even most expe

Most people don't have the financial wisdom to judge "too good to be true" on a macroeconomics basis. Specially not before the bubble burst, when even most experts regular people had access to thought there was nothing wrong with it. Someone offered them a great deal and they took it, simple as that. If a bank offers me a loan with very low interests should I consider the state of the whole economy and the impact of my loan on the country in 10 years before I take it? Compounding to that the fact that these people weren't even benefited by the whole scam. They lost their houses, their savings, everything. If they knew what was at stake they might bear some responsibility, but they didn't.

phd514 8y ago
I don't think it's fair to say that people who defaulted during the 2008 mortgage-backed securities crisis did so because they lacked sufficient macroeconomic knowledge to make prudent financial decisions. Some were offered loans (for a variety of bad reasons) that they could not repay if they encountered even the slightest setback in their current financial decisions. Those people should bear some responsibility for that poor choice as should those who offered them the loans for which they shouldn't really have qualified. Others exploited the process by strategically defaulting on mortgages after extracting money due to appreciation on the underlying property. IMO, that's unfair and borders on the fraudulent if they never intended to pay back the mortgages they took out. There were other problems that contributed as well, but none of the causes are so easily characterized that anyone who lost money should expect to see someone jailed as a consequence of their misfortune.
- hedvig 8y ago
  The greatest recession since the 1930s, caused by the similar wild west speculative innovation, and the victims on the lower end get depicted as strategic wolves somehow.

phd514 8y ago

I don't think it's fair to say that people who defaulted during the 2008 mortgage-backed securities crisis did so because they lacked sufficient macroeconomic knowledge to make prudent financial decisions. Some were offered loans (for a variety of bad reasons) that they could not repay if they encountered even the slightest setback in their current financial decisions. Those people should bear some responsibility for that poor choice as should those who offered them the loans for which they shouldn't really have qualified. Others exploited the process by strategically defaulting on mortgages after extracting money due to appreciation on the underlying property. IMO, that's unfair and borders on the fraudulent if they never intended to pay back the mortgages they took out. There were other problems that contributed as well, but none of the causes are so easily characterized that anyone who lost money should expect to see someone jailed as a consequence of their misfortune.

hedvig 8y ago
The greatest recession since the 1930s, caused by the similar wild west speculative innovation, and the victims on the lower end get depicted as strategic wolves somehow.