[hankaaron]

economic meltdown, or are they causalties.? I already have my own opinion on the question, but would love to hear others.

[MeliseR]

It has been a perfect storm, with everything coming together at once. I believe that mortgages were given to people who knew they could not afford them. Also, mortgages were given to people who did not realize what they were getting themselves into. Overall, Americans have been living beyond their means for quite some time now. It was inevitable that something like this would happen.