Paulson finally sees what everyone already sees

Next year will be an ugly year for loan defaults.

"The nature of the problem will be significantly bigger next year because 2006 (mortgages) had lower underwriting standards, no amortization, and no down payments," Paulson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, according to an excerpt on the newspaper's Web site.

And who was supposed to be providing oversight? Just as "profit" is not a dirty word, the same goes for "oversight." It is possible to have both despite what the GOP believes.

Meanwhile, the OECD is forecasting mortgage losses in the US to be valued at $300 billion. Let Bush and the GOP defend their incompetence to voters in 2008. They can tell us all about the benefits of the free market without regulations. Go ahead and run with it folks. Sounds like a winning strategy.