eru is right, banks decide to lend at their own peril. The problem was moving from a model where the mortgage stayed with the bank, to a model of sending mortga

eru is right, banks decide to lend at their own peril. The problem was moving from a model where the mortgage stayed with the bank, to a model of sending mortgages upstream to Wall Street where greedy, er.. I mean clever managers packaged them into complicated financial instruments (CDOs), and then buying triple A ratings from agencies like Moody's.