Too drastic?

The slowdown is a reality now and, in fact, it has already seeped in so much that it now feels like this is the way it's been.

In India, while we've been affected too, the situation is perhaps not as bad as it is in the US. I was reading about the high percentage of foreclosures in some US cities and the figures are shocking.

I think that perhaps part of the problem was the hasty reaction to the sub-prime crisis. It may have helped to take a little time to judge the situation and to react in a more controlled manner.

That was the point when the aid ought to have come in. What they have achieved in their haste to correct mistakes is a bigger problem.

The way in which the foreclosures happened without taking a balanced view has resulted in millions of people being rendered homeless which in turn left thousands of homes empty, prices crashed as a result as there are no takers for these houses and as these troubles compound, the crime will shoot up and the economy will be even more badly affected.

I think what ought to have happened was that they should have frozen things in place and gone over the list one by one to judge who is capable of paying back the loans if not over 10 yrs then 15 but at least the money would come. At the same time, people would have had a roof over their head and prices would not have been affected too drastically. And over time they could have identified the people who were sure-fire defaulters and would have been able to control the consequences.

This may be a simplistic lay-person view (as I have been told it is) but it makes perfect sense to me.