I'm going to defend Bush here. He WARNED there might be a problem with these shakey mortgages 12... I repeat 12 times, starting in 2003. In 2005 McCain and two other senators introduced a bill that would have reigned in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fox news has the Dems in charge of the Banking and Finance committees quoting that Fannie and Freddie were ok and didn't need regulation. Barney Frank as late as this last July 8th. O'Riley got him last night. Fannie and Freddie gave $450,000,000 dollars to Dems campaign money and $150,000,000 to a few liberal Reps. So, none of these guys would do anything. Now the Dems are blaming the Republicans loud and clear, when they were the ones at fault 75% of the time. Clinton twisted the strings on the regulations he could control with the banks in 1997-98 to give loans to low income people so they could own homes. How, by having ARM's where they pay only interest for 5 or so years then begin the real mortgage with the principal thrown in. This caused balloon payments they weren't able to afford. These loans were also given to young people who would probably sell the homes as they appreciated before the 5 or so years who would use the equity to buy another home and repeat the process. I know someone who did this 7 times in 14 years. Now, the people who are causing the fall of the financial system are the ones who insured these mortgages, and they don't have the money to pay them off when they default, they go down and take the banks and loan institutions with them. There is 58 Trillion dollars worth of mortgages out there. 5 million homes have been forclosed so far. These people should never be able to buy a house again. The poor are poor for a reason. There is no excuse, it is their own fault. It is also the fault of the banks and institutions who made the loans, the Clinton administration who started this fiasco. The Bush administration who didn't be more forceful to stop it, and us who keep voting the same people in over and over. There needs to be term limits for senators and congressmen, just like presidents.