Loony capitalism.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Sub-prime mortgage market - Brief article

There was a nutty "markets are always better" and "regulation is always bad" philosophy that came in under Ronald Reagan and opened the door for the bad guys to rush in and tempt good guys to lose their integrity in their haste to get rich. What happened in the sub-prime mortgage market illustrates much of what has gone wrong. A new financial instrument was created. It bundled mortgages bought from the original lender and then sold the bundle to a hedge fund or some other financial institution that had no relation to the original borrower.

This meant that the original lender was tempted to make loans on any terms, however unsound or misleading, that would attract...