Among the reasons why the sub-prime mortgage crisis has been Bad For America are: ¶ People who live in depressed areas who are underwater on their mortgages ca

Among the reasons why the sub-prime mortgage crisis has been Bad For America are: ¶ People who live in depressed areas who are underwater on their mortgages can’t move to someplace with better job prospects unless they abandon hope of recovering the equity in their current house. ¶ In neighborhoods where a significant number of houses have been foreclosed on (or where there is a lot of excess capacity because it was built up right before the bubble burst), all property values suffer, even the value of houses where the owners have good credit and have been making their payments. ¶ It’s a PITA for a bank to sell a foreclosed house, especially in a neighborhood where there have been a lot of other foreclosures (see above). None of these factors apply to car loans.