Is fraud so rampant in American society that it has become a way of life? It certainly seems to have increased over time and we could be in danger of it becoming totally commonplace. At some time in the past it was just "some" politicians, CEO's and con artist who engaged in fraud. Now you have sport teams spying on each other, politicians taking outright bribes, platinum parachutes for executives who defraud stockholders, televanglist getting rich from their congregation, oil companies gouging the public, the list goes on and on. Whew!!! This is bad! But what does that have to do with real estate? Well we are sometimes willing participates in fraud when it comes to housing. In my opinion, this is what has gotten us into this "housing crisis". As consumers we were willing to borrow more than a home was worth, defrauding the lenders in the process. And the lenders, apparently knowing this, willingly went along with it. I've seem many homes go for very high prices and people borrow 100% or more of the exaggerated value. It seems everyone was "doing it". Borrowers would come to the closing table with no cash and walk away with a check for, sometimes, thousands of dollars. Now, with no real investment in the home, it is easy to walk away and leave the lender holding the bag. But is this the way we want to act? I certainly hope we have all learned something from the situation we find ourselves in now. Everything "trickles down" to each of us as individuals. There is no "free lunch" as we are finding out. Getting a little preachy arn't I. What do you think? Tell me I am wrong and the country and the people are as good as ever. I need to hear it.