Half Measures and Lukewarm "Reform" Won't Save the Middle Class
In the heyday of Republican dominance of Washington (2003-2007), Wall Street titans inflated the housing sector into the mother of all bubbles. They securitized bundled mortgage debt knowing the foreclosure rate would be astronomical. They hedged their bets with "credit default swaps," which they criminally pumped up to a "notional" value of $62 trillion. They sold off thousands of exotic "financial products" to unwitting clients from Iceland to China. White-collar criminals at the "ratings" agencies, Moody's and Standard and Poor's, gave triple-A imprimaturs to this toxic financial sludge. This racketeering took advantage of the quintessential desire on the part of millions of Americans to own their own homes. It was about the most unpatriotic thing one could do to the country. So pervasive was the cheerleading in favor of the pillage commentators like David Brooks, Stephen Moore, and others celebrated the onset of a free-market, Republican-dominated "Ownership Society."
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