Mortgage Crisis

Maxed Out exposes the recent history and culture of debt for all of its absurdities and contradictions. The world's largest financial institutions are trolling for customers - from the nouveau riche to the poorest members of society, who counter-intuitively make for the largest profits. By turns hilarious, fascinating, and deeply disturbing, Maxed Out is ultimately one observer's answer to the question, "Why can't we get out of debt?"

Most buyers are unfamiliar with the process of getting a loan or mortgage and what it really takes to get approved. This is not only important for first time home buyers but experienced owners too. It may have been awhile since a current home owner has purchased a home and acquired a mortgage and the rules change constantly. Buyers get frustrated with all the paperwork and they feel like they are asked for the same items over and over and over again. Most buyers don’t really know what buying power they have. I see both ends of the scale: people who feel they can afford twice as much as ...

The sub-prime mortgage crisis was only the beginning: a more profound economic and political restructuring was on the way. The astronomical leverage at investment banks with their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guaranteed massive disruption in global markets. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy came crashing down with it. Continued denial and concealment caused the crisis to stretch out for years, but financial and government leaders still downplayed the problem.

Mortgages are a necessary evil. In order for us to buy homes for our families, most of us have to borrow an eye watering amount of money that is generally paid off at the mortgage company’s pace and on their terms - rather than at our own. Goodbye Mortgage! seeks to explain the simple principals that can be applied over time that will help you dramatically reduce your mortgage balance, thereby saving you thousands, even tens of thousands in mortgage payments.

In the summer of 2007, the subprime empire that Wall Street had built all came crashing down. On average, 50 lenders a month were going bust - and the people responsible for the crisis included not just unregulated loan brokers and con artists, but also investment bankers and home loan institutions traditionally perceived as completely trustworthy.

In the midst of one of the most serious financial upheavals since the Great Depression, George Soros writes about the origins of the crisis and proposes a set of policies that should be adopted to confront it. Soros places the current crisis in the context of his decades of study of how individuals and institutions handle the boom and bust cycles that now dominate global economic activity.

Soros makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the great credit crisis and its implications for our nation and the world.

The subprime mortgage crisis has already wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people, and now it threatens to derail the U.S. economy and economies around the world. In this trenchant book, best-selling economist Robert Shiller reveals the origins of this crisis and puts forward bold measures to solve it.