Banking Law

Banking Law Prof gives everyone a hit list of "takeaways" from the subprime mortgage mess:

    1. There?s blame enough to go around.
    2. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
    3. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
    4. If you don?t understand it, don?t invest in it.
    5. What goes around comes around.
    6. It?s still good to be the little pig who built his house of brick.

I especially like the last one, and appreciate the irony of the fact that in this the Lone Star State, the brick houses have been built by folks who a sizable portion of the American public apparently desires to ship "back home" pronto, no matter what the effect of that forced exodus might be on an economy currently teetering on the brink. The ripple effects of the housing debacle continue to roll out, and as today's The Wall Street Journal noted, homebuilders are under the gun. Which, of course, means that their "anxious lenders" (as the Journal describes them) are also under the gun, as we observed a few moons ago. With all due respect to the Tom Tancredos and Lou Dobbs of American politics and media, what we don't need to do at the moment is to ship the homebuilders' labor force "off-site" for an extended  siesta in their "home country." Homebuilders may not be throwing houses up like bluebonnets anymore, but at least in this part of the world, they're still building and selling them. Let's remember lesson number 2 above and exercise not only a little compassion, but a little common sense. Before we learn lesson number 5 the hard way.

This message was NOT approved by John McCain, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.