Home values were inflated when government pushed the subprime and Alt-A loans. These loans were made to borrowers with blemished credit, or involved low or no down payments, negative amortization and limited documentation of income. The loans' unprecedentedly high rates of default are what is driving down housing prices and weakening the financial system. People are now finding themselves owing more on a home than it's currently worth, thanks in large part to the long list of greedy people in power that took advantage of the many ignorant. Barney Frank--the chair of the House Financial Services Committee and a longtime supporter of Fannie and Freddie--admitted that it had been a mistake to force homeownership on people who could not afford it. Renting, he said, would have been preferable. Now he tells us.