What Could Go Wrong

Even aside from all the fraud, the only Very Serious Opinion was that a nationwide housing slump was unpossible and that therefore a housing bubble was a crazy notion.

But now he is back in the game, leading a small band of lenders making subprime loans once more. Or "nonprime", as they prefer to call it these days. The sector is on course to produce about $10bn this year — a tiny slice of America's $1.6tn overall home-loan market but one that's growing rapidly.

Turn the machines back on!