More Mortgage Meltdown Basics
As I’ve been poking around the internet, looking for information to help me get my heard around this ginormous mortgage mess, I keep coming across very good essays on various aspects of the problem. I’ve found two more and I’m passing them on to you.
First up is a lengthy, but very approachable post on mortgage-based securities. MBSs are a key component of the problem and the author does a very good job of explaining what they are, why they exist as investments, and why they’ve gone all pear-shaped suddenly. The comment section also has some very useful information as well.
Second is an audio clip, the best part is about twenty minutes long, by Mark Levin. Levin is unabashedly conservative and has little time for the progressives who have had a big hand in getting us to where we are now, so if you have a low tolerance for that, you probably shouldn’t listen. I think it’s quite good and Levin dishes out a lot of facts that will be handy for you to have as we decide how to start digging out of this near-catastrophe.
The digging out is going to be incredibly important. As I wrote yesterday, there is the distinct likelihood that the government could end up in control of the home mortgage industry as a result of what happens this week. That would be, over the long-term, a much worse prospect that having the entire industry crash down around our ears even though, over the short term, it might very well be a necessary (or even desireable) fact of life. How long that should be so, and to what extent, is something we need to sort out while we have the chance.
Yes, there is a very real problem and it is an immense one. We have not seen a potential crisis like this since the Great Depression. That does not mean that we should panic ourselves into reaching a bad decision. We shouldn’t let anyone else panic us into a hasty decision, either. We should be especially wary of being panicked into giving more power that gives more power to the very people who deserve a great amount of the blame for getting us to this point.
Other Posts of Interest:
Category: The Economy and Your Money
