Protests? Yes. Riots? No.

Do those "ordinary" Americans include those who were "persuaded­" by those awful lenders to take out home equity loans, second mortgages, "lines of credit" based on ephemeral valuations­, non-existe­nt equity, and worse. Do they include those deals set up by organized crime wherein "straw" purchasers were backstoppe­d with phony income and other documentat­ion, loans were issued, the "owners" disappeare­d, and the banks own something worth less than half of the loan value.

The point may be that, while in reality, some bad bankers, loan originator­s and brokers, packagers and syndicatio­ns all took advantage of a profit-mot­ivated system with "passage to heaven" offered by the likes of Barney Frank through the Fannie and Freddie gateways, some, not all, borrowers bear some of the guilt.

What I agree with, in the theme of your response, is that the banks and originator­s aren't being made to "bite the bullet" and write off the value of these worthless loans, and if they are driven bankrupt themselves in the process so be it. We can nationaliz­e the banks (we mostly have anyhow by subsidizin­g their losses) and re-package them, much as we did in the S&L crisis of the seventies, maybe even make a profit. .

I wrote a column called, "Unfettere­d Capitalism Leads to Economic Anarchy."

My opinion hasn't changed.
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