"How did we get into this mess? We were forced into this position by legislation penned by Barney Frank (D), Chris Dodd (D), and others who demanded banks loan to people who could not afford loans, "

I'm not a Democrat and I happen to work for a bank. I can tell you that the banks were certainly not forced into offering loans to people who can't afford it. The banks were the ones pushing loans on the people. They give a loan and then they talk the poor slob into taking MORE MONEY. This has been going on for years and I'm sad to say, it's still going on. Banks make money by issuing mortgages. The more mortgages the bank issues, the more money they make. They often sell the mortgage to another company as soon as they close it. It's been going on for years and years and it's finally blowing up.