Robert M. Jaworski analyzes the "perfect storm" that has hit the subprime mortgage industry--including what caused the storm and what the effects of the storm have been. Mr. Jaworski writes:

     Speculation and fraud also played a part in this perfect storm. Real estate speculators used these exotic products to purchase properties without having to put up a lot of their own money or prove income and assets. Borrowers (and/or loan officers in some cases) exaggerated income on stated income loans (dubbed by some, for this reason, as “Liar’s loans”) in order to obtain loans for which they would not otherwise have qualified. And criminals found that many of the features of these loans made it easier to perpetrate property-flipping and other illegal schemes.