Ughhh Alan Greenspan (FED) did boost the money supply after 9/11 which in turn lowered interest rates in an effort to prevent an economic downfall due to fear after the attack, and it is common thought that this is when the bubble started,so sure you can blame him...But from what i understand as far as making lending standards a joke goes you don't have to look much further than your democratic congressmen who pushed the idea that everyone should have the right to own a home, and pressured banks to lend to people who under traditional lending practices would not qualify. Traditional meaning at least 10% down if not 20% and the home your buying valued at about 3 times your yearly income(not 100% sure on this guys) so if you make 50k you could buy a house around 150k. So as lending practices weakened more and more people started qualifying and buying so naturally prices went up, then people started speculating buying more than they could afford on easy credit pushing prices even higher. When their teaser rate 0-2% interest rate expired and the market rate kicked in mortgage payments for the default douches increased. Those in over their heads defaulted, those speculating defaulted, equity lines started to vanish , and now you have strategic defaults. Strategic default is basically walking away from a bad investment, so even though you can still afford your mortgage payment it doesn't make much sense to when you can buy your neighbors house which is exactly like yours for much less than you owe on yours.
3 years ago it was almost shameful to tell people i rented, cause every motherfucker with a pulse was buying a house. Now all these douche bags that over looked common sense in order to "improve" their living standards lost ,so because it happened to so many people were supposed to have sympathy? Sorry dude fuck that. I've seen too many people who didnt take risks by getting involved in buying a house they couldnt afford suffer due to all this bullshit...
