OK, I am totally confused.
The mortgage market meltdown was (we are told) caused by too many people defaulting on loans they got even though, really, they could not afford them.
Our environment is in ruins in part because we drive cars that require way too much fuel.
Our domestic car industry insists that it builds gas guzzling cars because that’s what people want. Only, those cars are on the lot because nobody is buying them and so now they need government help to survive.
We, the people, the government, give GM a loan, invest in GMAC, so that GM can afford to make loans to its customers.
So GM then reduces the standards people need to meet to get a car loan to just a smidge above “subprime” levels and insists that now we can buy their inefficient tanks cars with borrowed money.
How does this help us? How does this not just perpetuate America’s consumer binge at the very time we should all be learning to save and live within our means? Why are we doing this?