At a party this weekend,

I got into a discussion about the economy, and the reasons it is SO bad.  The difference, this time, was it was with an articulate, intelligent person whose opinion I respect. His main problem?  I found he used the same flawed reasoning that FOX has been able to foist on many people, that being the housing/mortgage problem we have is because of Clinton's policies. Wrong! True, the Clinton admin supported the idea that home building/ownership was good for people and the economy. In my opinion, no other business supports and builds a healthy economy like construction, because it involves SO many different businesses and the trickle down is HUGE.  This worked for many years, and was healthy because you actually had to QUALIFY for a loan, under Dem policies. The problems began, midway thru the Bush years, when the bankers started bundling the mortgages and selling them to various institutions, in the US and around the world. They made LOTS of money doing this. Then they ran out of morts to sell, SO, under Bush and the Repubs, they dropped the qualifications for a loan from 20%, to 10, to 5, to ZERO, then, with a liar loan you could actually buy a house w/nothing down, and immediately get up to 10% in an equity loan.  SURPRISE,that's when the shit hit the fan, along with 'equity swaps' and derivatives that also made the banks and bankers HUGE commisions. This was done under Repub/GWBush deregulation, NOT Clintons original housing stimulus. It is amazing how many people, mostly loyal FOX followers, don't know this, but it's true.