Also, I beg to differ with people saying that the taxpayer should have done their own research. Majority of these people who have defaulted on their mortgages are the working class who have never even been to college. So to claim they oh they should have done a thorough investigation before taking out a loan is outright absurd. They were working class individuals who always dreamt of a owning property as an investment. The banks lured them into easily taking out a loan without any supporting documents of their savings or income.
And the whole scheme wasn't created by some small commerical bank who have support staff working. The whole scheme came into being because of investment banks who were once again seeking to maximize their profits at the expense of the taxpayer. That is why they are paying for it. That is WHY lehman fell and Merill lynch got bought by B of A. Obama should definitely carry out an overhaul of the financial sector and implement strict regulations on these investment banks. So the executives don't go home with their millions while the taxpayer struggles with his mortgage. The mortgage that was created by the very executive to create tons of "BS" securities and given unreliable insurance by AIG another huge culprit along with the banking executives. I don't know why anyone cannot see that these investment banks and corporate giants created the mess for their own greed and to maximize their own proft and the taxpayer fell for their scheme coz he didn't know any better.......coz most people really don't know any better. Thats why we have professionals like bankers, doctors and lawyers in place!