Readers Respond: The mortgage-meltdown task force

An article in yesterday's HCN Monday about President Obama's plan to investigate the mortgage mess generated a wide range of opinions. 

"While banks have a good share of the blame in the mortgage meltdown -- and the subsequent foreclosure issues -- no investigation can be complete without investigating the role the government played in pressuring banks to reduce down payment requirements and reduce lending standards in the name of eliminating profiling. This had a result of allowing people, regardless of ethnicity, to wind up with unsustainable mortgages. I have little hope that any commission will address this issue."

— David Ward

"Obama and his joint federal and state task force will do nothing but spend more of the tax payers money."

— Wayne E. Ridout

Ridout Lumber Co.

Searcy, Ark.

"What are the chances that the joint federal and state task force will punish those responsible for the mortgage meltdown? None."

— Shannon Ramey

"What are they going to do, investigate all of the home buyers who knew that they couldn’t afford what they were buying? It’s about time for this nation to get back to self-government and personal responsibility."

— Anonymous 

The federal government better look in the mirror and clean house before it wants to pin this problem on the banks. They should not waste any more of our money; let the market work it out.

— Mark Schaefer

VP operations

Global Product Sourcing

"If the investigation brings up certain individuals doing wrong, then they have to go to prison. The only way to stop this in the future is personal responsibility in the form of imprisonment."

— Ed Deiss