First Greenspan, Rubin and Clinton screwed with our financial policies to allow the developers and lenders to raise the price of new housing by 300%, then turn around and make funny loans to people who could not afford them, so they would buy these grossly over-priced houses. Then the lenders bundled the loans into big packages, hiding the nasty details (such as that people who got the loans couldn't afford the loans), and Wall Street took the bundles and sold them off in pieces to the ignorant public.
Who got the money here? (1) Real Estate Developers. (2) Banks. (3) Wall Street.
Who got conned? (1) The people who bought these homes. (2) Local communities whose real estate markets are falling faster than a bowling ball dropped from a rooftop. (3) The taxpayers because for reasons unknown, our government keeps giving these criminal lenders more of our money.
What would I have them do? Tell every lender that before they get one penny, they must sign papers to re-pay it plus interest. Then tell them that in addition, they must build rental units in specified communities, and turn the ownership and control over to a citizens grassroots housing organization. Tell each local municipality to adopt rent control laws (which could be provided, one set fits all) and anti-eviction policies. Bring up the number of rental units for the people being evicted and, in the future, the people who just can't afford to own a single family residence. Get some balance into the housing system and begin to move away from the ecologically disastrous tract home style.
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