Borrow now, default later

Here's an interesting statistic:

Countrywide and other lenders tightened their lending standards last summer to ensure borrowers could afford loans after the interest rates adjusted upward.

Had those guidelines been in effect previously, Countrywide recently said, it would have rejected 89% of the option ARM loans it made in 2006, amounting to $64 billion, and $74 billion, or 83%, of those it made in 2005.

89% of the people borrowing couldn't afford to pay the loans off! That's an almost incredible statistic. Whoever thought this made sense should be shot.