Today's subprime lending minute is brought to you by ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who used to be much-loved, but is now being called a "hypocrite" and "opportunist". Why? Because he talks too much.

Anyway, moving on.

I'm confused.

On one side, you have this:

Cesar Mejia feels fortunate his family isn’t out on the streets.

The 58-year-old school maintenance worker bought a two-bedroom home in 1999 with his wife and disabled son after securing a conventional 30-year mortgage. They refinanced two years ago to a $190,000 subprime loan to free up cash from home equity so Mejia could cover medical and funeral costs for his mother, who lived in the Dominican Republic ...

... Mejia’s new mortgage carried a higher interest rate that boosted the family’s monthly payment from $1,700 to $2,159, he said. When he faced an unexpected $15,000 tax bill from the sale of an earlier home, the family fell behind on its monthly payments.

On another, you have this:

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Friday her office planned to step up enforcement against predatory lenders who lure homebuyers into terms they can’t afford. Coakley also is considering stronger regulations to crack down on loan originators who inflate consumers’ income and obtain inflated property appraisals.

Are they even talking about the same thing? Is anybody?

The borrower, in this case at least, refinanced into a loan that freed up cash but increased his monthly payment by $400. He says the lender "convinced us to do something that was not in our best interest", I'm not sure how. The man needed the money, and apparently qualified.

Meanwhile, the state's attorney general says she's going to "crack down" on "predatory lenders" and those who fudge loan documents.

That doesn't seem to be the case here.

Instead, it was a situation where the borrower knew what he was getting into, encountered an unexpected tax obligation, and ended up without the money to pay his expenses (including his utility bills). Unfortunate, but common? I don't think so. Would anyone of us be able to handle this without facing financial difficulty?

To me there's too many stories out there that throw a lot of data and information around, much of it garbage or irrelevant.

Can't one reporter find ONE person who has actually taken out a loan where their docs were forged or where their lender did something terrible, dishonest, or illegal?

Otherwise, so far all I'm hearing is stories about how otherwise sane people borrowed more than they should have, and are now looking for someone(s) to bail them out.

More: Subprime market’s decline puts thousands of Mass. homes at risk - Associated Press, by way of The Boston Herald