MORTGAGE CURMUDGEON CHANNELS THE REGULATORS and what their final guidance on nontraditional mortgages should have said.

“On the issue of risk underwriting and management, we regret that, because of our slowness to react, we did nothing to prevent an onslaught of foreclosures in the next few years. By the time we issued this document, most of the damage had already been done. The time for action was during the euphoric years of rising home prices, because this was the major stimulus for the widespread use of option ARMs (adjustable-rate mortgages), interest-only mortgages, 100 percent loans, and stated-income loans.

Exactly.