Darwin Swims in the Mortgage Gene Pool

After reviewing at least a dozen sources, the best guess I can make about how many mortgages are in foreclosure in this country is about two percent. Another six percent or so and "not current" in their payments. That leaves about 92 percent of the mortgages in this country functioning just fine.

So, eight percent of home buyers are sinking instead of swimming. How many of them are victims of "predatory lenders"? Again, estimates are all over the map, but most seem to hover somewhere around 20%.

Do I feel sorry for the folks in foreclosure? Well, for all but a very few of them, the answer is, "no". I think there is some small percentage that are truly hard luck cases that might earn some of my sympathy. Unfortunately, my sympathy and a dollar will buy these folks a Coke. What they really need is the sympathy of their mortgage company, and that ain't coming any time soon. We all play by the same rules here.

I have zero sympathy for anyone who is defaulting on a mortgage for a second home, a vacation getaway, or a rental property. And, frankly, I have zero sympathy for people who just had a tough time getting their brains around the "adjustable rate" concept. There really are no mulligans in mortgages--lenders are ubiquitously serious to all borrowers, without regard to gender, race, religion, or any other characteristic a debtor might try to hide behind.

Not that I have any sympathy at all for the lenders who dreamed this mess up in the pursuit of ever increasing profits. As usual, government regulators have reacted long after the horses are out of the barn. Still, the government posse should round up and shoot the worst offenders.

So, how much will it cost YOU, the American taxpayer, to throw a lifesaver to these intellectually challenged, greedy, and profligate parties?

Oh, about $600 Billion. That is enough money to fully fund health insurance for 75 million Americans for a year.

For that kind of money, I say, kick them all out of the mortgage pool for a long timeout. Then hire someone to scoop out all the dookie they left in the water, then declare "Adult Swim" only for the next five years or so. People that dumb and/or greedy don't deserve to be in the mortgage gene pool.