Maine governor picks tomatoes to celebrate new greenhouse harvest

First off, after 9/11 the state of the economy went down because the Bush Regime had everyone scared out of their wits that al-Qaeda was living in their basements.

Secondly, George Bush in 2002 created the "American Dream Downpayment Act" (Google it!) and said to the nation that we are an "ownership society". From that moment, THE BANKS TOOK ALL THE RISKS, because people were allowed to get a loan without a down payment (thanks to the Free Downpayment Act ole Georgie created!), without a credit check, and without verfiying one's income.

And it wasn't only the poor who got a loan from a bank that they couldn't afford. The middle class went ballistic buying up homes. Some were buying more than one home to flip them to make a profit! And there were some out there across the nation who REMORTGAGED their home to buy a Hummer or to update their kitchen or what have you.

The Big Banks were fine with no one paying thier mortgage, because the banks took those toxic loans and "insured" them through AIG. AIG then turned part of their comp. into a hedgefund and sold those loans offshore into more hedgefunds! A $100,000 mortgage on land that was defaulted on became $1,000,000 in value offshore in the Wall Street Housing Casino!

So, in conclusion, between Bush's laws and the banks taking all the risk, neither one of them cared if you paid your mortgage or not. They gave out loans to anyone who wanted one. And guess how much the derivatives/credit default swap bubble is worth today? $1.5 QUADRILLION.