Mortgage scam by credit rating agency

The FBI has been doing their job since March of this year, tracking down the culprits behind a massive mortgage scam. Thank you FBI. Maybe they felt bad after missing the chance to avert 911. Maybe they resent what happened to Plame.

I remember the first time I read about ARMs and the "no-proof-of-income" home loans. I did think it seemed kind of strange that I could pay a low amount for a few years but then have to pony up a huge balloon payment later. Of course, I could "refinance." I could see a mortgage crisis looming, not for the country, but for me if I were stupid enough to take out a home loan under those circumstances.

As it turns out, not everyone scours the library and internet for information before making mortgage decisions; still worse, many people were misled about the nature of their home loans. A lot of folks took the bait and ended up losing everything. I don't fault them for trusting their brokers. I fault brokers for committing felonies to the detriment of hardworking people.

Last week I tried to explain the mortgage crisis to my 11 year old. I told him that I thought it was a big scam. My reason was that credit rating agencies had to give the mortgage funds a triple A rating in order to have the operation financed. Another reason, I read an explanation of the mortgage AAA rating issue which started out, "it sounds like a scam but it isn't."

Trust me, believe me, let me be honest with you, I'm not lying, it isn't what it looks like, I'm not a crook... right.

In the end, it sounded like a scam and it was. Thanks to the FBI, but not TOO much thanks. They could have seen this coming years ago. Someone had to realize that the inordinate amount of subprime loans couldn't possibly have capital investment backing without something fishy going on. Would it have been so difficult to ask, "hey, who's backing these mortgages?"

If someone, anyone, Greenspan even, would have looked into those mortgage pools, they would have noticed a fraudulent AAA rating. Realistically, lots of people knew about this long before it became news. It is scary to think that so many of us could be this bad.

This is why we have to present an alternative to those narrow old paths to power. Power must always be shared equally, never inherited or taken. Judge us by the "content of our character" or our ability to contribute, but not by our wealth. Great wealth is only a sign of greed and should always be avoided.

That's my opinion.