Intel Corp (INTC)

[techno_bull]

While we have a myriad of problems in our capitalist system and it would be nice to fix them all, if we could go back in time and change only ONE thing to try and avoid the current economic calamity, I would go back and implement rules or oversight of what have you to prevent mortgages from being issued for properties that people couldn't afford. They couldn't afford them because the prices were over-inflated and they didn't make enough money. People just couldn't afford the 'American Dream'. What they didn't realize is that the housing bubble had to burst and the dream had to become affordable eventually because the value of housing has a direct relationship to income. They just needed to wait for home prices to come back to them, not over leverage themselves (or be encouraged to over-leverage themselves) to buy at any cost.