After hearing people are killing themselves over the homes, I still don't think we should punish the mortgage companies for giving out sub-prime loans. I haven't decided whether I believe in caps on interest rates, though. Personally, I believe free markets tend to balance themselves out, and not to trivialize the "crisis," but predatory lending usually means that there is predatory borrowing. I'm not going to claim to be an economist, but banks and other lending institutions make money off of the interest on the loans they give out. Therefore, it makes sense for them to give out as many loans as possible. That would include people with bad credit. They don't force people to take out the loans, charge up the cards, or buy the car. People (Americans in particular) do that because of convenience and procrastination. Why pay today what you can attempt to pay for the next 20 years? I think we should let the free market balance itself, by letting banks fail and letting customers fail. Is this too libertarian of an attitude to have? Is it too much to ask people and businesses to be good stewards of their own cash?
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