Sen. CLINTON: You know it would be, and I have also advocated that the FHA do exactly that. We have to raise its limits so that it can deal with the severity of the problem in a lot of markets that would otherwise be shut out of any kind of solution. But this is the kind of problem, Jim, that demands urgent action and everybody just kind of walking around while it gets worse.

I mean, inflation is up. You know that.

CRAMER: Right.

Sen. CLINTON: You look at the indicators. You know, I think we're headed for some really, you know, uncharted waters here that are going to be difficult to navigate unless we start dealing with this, you know, home market problem.

CRAMER: How about the fact that they have an incredible laissez faire attitude in government, that perhaps the people who got in trouble it's their own fault. Do you think luck's playing no role in some of these poor people's foreclosures?

Sen. CLINTON: Well, I'll tell you what. We know that that is exactly what happened. These exotic vehicles, what are they? The structured investment vehicles...

CRAMER: Right.

Sen. CLINTON: ...that even, you know, Alan Greenspan and Bernanke had to have explained to them. You know, people's mortgages often Shanghai or Berlin in some portfolio. Yeah, I mean this was totally unprecedented. And the key here now is to say, look, we're in a mess. Everybody's contributed something.

But if you listen to the people that I've talked to throughout Ohio, these are people who were, you know, in many instances misled. They were the subject of abusive, fraudulent lending practices. They were given overenthusiastic appraisals...

CRAMER: Right.

Sen. CLINTON: ...in order to support a higher interest rate. You know, you had all of these people with, you know, crazy things like prepayment penalties, all sorts of shenanigans between appraisers and, you know, brokers and lenders. I mean, come on, this was a scam from, you know, start to finish...

CRAMER: Totally.

Sen. CLINTON: ...that has really impacted adversely--not just on the people getting foreclosed on. What about the guy living next door? He's paid off his mortgage, he's got a vacant house next door.

CRAMER: True.

Sen. CLINTON: What about, you know, the communities that start to see all the consequences of that. So it's a problem that demands action. We're not getting it from our current president and administration.

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