^ ummm no you don't need to be a banker, doctor or lawyer to know better generally. Please don't twist my words. But you consult a doctor when you are sick, you consult a lawyer when you need legal help and you rely on their opinion. Therefore, you need to consult a banker before you get a mortgage and the banker should have your best interests in mind and make sure you're able to pay your loan instead of just being outright greedy and making a profit at the expense of your naivete.
Also, you can't get a prescription drug without the doctor's prescription. You trust the doctor's judgment to prescribe you the right medication coz they know what will work. And thus a taxpayer shouldn't be allowed to judge whether to take out a loan or not. A taxpayer will always want to own as opposed to rent coz owning is an investment. But thats where the banker comes in or sadly was SUPPOSED to come in and prevent the taxpayer from embarking on this disastrous route. A doctor can prescribe morphine and suppose a patient requests a dose for the sole reason of getting high! When the doctor prescribes it, and the person gets addicted do you blame the person for that or the doctor?? Sure, the person is stupid but who gave it to him??? the doctor who was in charge of providing good healthcare or the person who was just looking to get high?? Who was in **charge **here?????
Doctors, investment bankers and many others along these lines get paid well precisely because they are in charge of regulating the health, financial well being and other such factors in a society. There is a reason they hold these presitigious positions. It calls for a lot of responsibility and demands putting the interests of society before theirs! Sure investment bankers seek profit but you can't make profit from a venture so risky that it collapses the entire financial sector!!! So they can't create the mess and run away screaming, oh the taxpayer came to us for a mortgage and we had no choice but to give it to them. What a pathetic argument. Why did you give it to them when you knew very well that given their finances, they will most likely default! And now millions of innocent taxpayers have to pay for your greediness when these millions didnt even default and have nothing to do with this subprime mortgage crisis!!