> You still take an enormous risk, staking all your livelihood, and the bank get a near free way to make money... middle class Americans who got screwed by "a l

> You still take an enormous risk, staking all your livelihood, and the bank get a near free way to make money... middle class Americans who got screwed by "a low risk mortgage" How are you staking your livelihood? Mortgages have no recourse apart from your home. Even then the foreclosure process takes anywhere between 1 and 3 years depending on the state and the bank is likely to offer you deferment or a modification so it doesn't have to go through the trouble and expense of foreclosing. The worst that can happen is your credit could be hit, but even that resets after 7 years. And since you seem so anti-debt I don't think you'd miss out on much. The bank treats agency mortgages as quasi risk free paper, so the yields get bid down, so they don't make too much money holding this stuff