Patient Zero

We have all heard about a medical "patient zero". When an epidemic occurs they can trace it back, if not to a specific person (Typhoid Mary) at the very least to a region (Bird Flu).

The "Patient Zero" for this economic disaster can be traced to a region. Stockton, Ca. 2003. What is shocking about this is how many people knew about patient zero but because of greed kept the ball rolling for as long as they could get their money. As Greg puts it...they ran ahead of the boulder knowing full well what was going to happen. And so patient zero was a sub prime loan given most likely by Countrywide Mortgage in Stockton, Ca. in 2003, where the highest volume of sub prime loan were issued. By 2006 patient zero's mortgage reset and the patient couldn't afford the payments, 3 months later he lost his job and the house went into foreclosure. All the value of all the houses on his block went down a fraction of a percent....then the next loan defaulted and the houses value fell a little more....well we are all feeling the affects of the fall out. By 2007 even individuals who do not follow the economic trends...knew something was up and by 2008 our bubble really burst....all because of greed and I mean greed on every level.

We were all living the high life, spending, vacationing, remodeling...on credit.

Well, we are now in Feb. 2009 and it is a cold shower wake up. Hopefully all of this will not be lost but the knowledge used to make better decisions about...how much does one person need.