The Volokh Conspiracy - N.Y. Times on the Mortgage Crisis:

The mortgage crisis is moving into the mainstream. According to this and other stories, "everyone" is surprised at the crisis. Of course, Volokh Conspiracy readers learned back in June 2005 that mortgage companies had "gone out of their collective minds" (and beyond) and that I felt "sorry for whoever owns these loans, because some decent fraction of the mortgage holders are going to walk away from their six-figure paper losses, either because they can't afford the adjustable-rate increases, or simply because they'd rather saddle someone else with their loss." What I didn't add at that time was that interest-only, no-doc loans were an open invitation to fraud, such that a significant percentage of loans have become non-performing almost immediately.

Advantage: Volokh Conspiracy!

	[David Bernstein, March 10, 2007 at 5:17pm] Trackbacks N.Y. Times on the Mortgage Crisis: The mortgage crisis is moving into the mainstream. According to this and other stories, "everyone" is surprised at the crisis. Of course, Volokh Conspiracy readers learned back in June 2005 that mortgage companies had "gone out of their collective minds" (and beyond) and that I felt "sorry for whoever owns these loans, because some decent fraction of the mortgage holders are going to walk away from their six-figure paper losses, either because they can't afford the adjustable-rate increases, or simply because they'd rather saddle someone else with their loss." What I didn't add at that time was that interest-only, no-doc loans were an open invitation to fraud, such that a significant percentage of loans have become non-performing almost immediately. Advantage: Volokh Conspiracy!