Meltdown.

I have to define what is going on in this country, I don't know, for posterity, or just to make me feel better.

Clinton, maybe cause of some childhood psychosis, wanted to make it so everyone could have a house. So he and his congress pushed and pushed to have the banks and these mortgage houses/brokers/whatevers lower their standards so more and more people could get a home loan. The problem was because of this lowering of standards, more and more people who couldn't really pay for their homes thought they could of the type of loan they got: rather than a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, where you know what you're getting, no surprises, these new kinds of loans came out of the woodwork, ALT-Rs or arms or something. I'm not sure what they're called, but I know what they are: when you first get it the interest rates are incredibly low, and they gradually get higher and higher. Couple this with the fact that most people couldn't afford their homes with a fixed rate mortgage, and it's a recipe for disaster. The interest rates get higher, people can't pay back the banks, they default on their loans, no money for the banks, the mortgage bubble pops. It's simple to me at least.

So this whole mess was caused mostly by people refusal to think ahead and just basic stupidity and gullibility. Blame the politicians all you want; it's a lot easier to blame someone else than it is yourself.