On Dec 1, 2008, at 7:14 AM, Michael Smith wrote:
> The original (narrower)
> one here was whether handing out mortgages like Mardi Gras beads
> was in itself a Good Thing as far as it went -- spreading the wealth
> etc.
Lending lots of money to buy an unproductive asset like housing does nothing to spread wealth around. It spreads debt around and inflates prices. Until the bubble bursts, that is.
Doug