Subprime

Following the media coverage of the housing mortgage crisis gives me a headache. It's difficult to make sense of what's actually happening. But without a doubt there's one clear causal factor emerging from the media fog: subprime mortgages. A quick scroll through Dean Baker's blog shows just how often the media pins the crisis on subprime loans. Yet Baker, who was one of the few economists who saw all this coming, makes it clear that the subprime mortgages are just a chapter in a larger story about how housing prices got so out of line with their historical value. Why have they reduced such a complex story to this particular factor?

It's probably because "subprime" is code for minorities and poor people, always an easy target. What do you think the public hears when folks say "subprime?" You can almost see the thoughts taking shape in the public mind: "you know, if those poor people hadn't been so irresponsible with their money, we wouldn't be in this mess. They should have known better than to take out those loans." Personal responsibility being so powerful a cultural trope, it's probably trumping the narrative that places blame on Wall Street bankers.

Am I being paranoid here? I know there isn't much evidence, but in a circular way, that's the point of speaking in code. I'm open to contradictory evidence, though.