There is a legend in China about how an old lady saved money to buy a house.

When I was a teenager, I heard a story to the effect that there was an old Chinese lady and an old American lady. The old lady in China saved money all her life, and only after she died did she save enough money to buy a new house to live in, while the old lady in the United States took out a loan to live in, and the loan was paid off until she died, so she lived in a new house all her life. The moral of this economic story is obvious. It praises the consumption behavior of American old ladies and laughs at China's ignorance. Yes, compared with the old ladies in China, American old ladies are more capable of being human and enjoying life with the same income. In the same environment, the American old lady can live in a new house for life ahead of schedule only by slightly changing the consumption pattern, while the China old lady sticks to her own opinions and realizes her dream of housing before her death. Compared with the current concepts of ahead consumption and overdraft consumption, the old lady China's concept of saving money is really too old-fashioned.

When I first saw this story, although I admired the clever and wise consumption behavior of the old American woman and knew how to make full use of other people's money to spend in advance, it was probably influenced by the traditional conservative ideas of China people. I always feel that the American old lady's behavior pattern of super-money consumption and high-debt consumption is not to my taste, because the risks involved are relatively large. In case of bad economic environment or natural and man-made disasters, the bank loan cannot be repaid, and the house will not be forcibly taken back by the bank for auction. If the money is still not enough to repay the loan, I am afraid that the bank will force the author to sell iron and lose everything!

Therefore, a thing has its advantages, and it will inevitably have its disadvantages. Although the consumption pattern of advance and high debt can make people get consumer goods early, it also contains high-risk factors that cannot be ignored. Although the old American lady moved into her new house early, she was uneasy and a little scared. She is always worried about natural and man-made disasters, and the old lady China moved into the new house a little late, but she lives safely and comfortably, and she is not worried that there will be another bank bill to urge you to repay.

The outbreak and further spread of the American subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 is undoubtedly a thorough liquidation of the American old lady's consumption pattern of exceeding consumption and high debt. The so-called subprime loan refers to the housing loan provided to people with low credit score, lack of income proof and heavy debts in the United States. According to relevant statistics, in 200 1 year, 25% of the subprime mortgage loans in the United States were issued to borrowers who lacked proof of income like American old ladies, and in 2006, this proportion has risen to 45%. What is even more shocking is that some lending institutions have even introduced "zero down payment" and "zero documents" loan methods. Lenders can buy houses without funds, only need to declare their income, and do not need to provide any proof of repayment ability. American consumption culture and the encouragement and connivance of American financial institutions to the consumption pattern of over-consumption and high debt have made many low-income people with insufficient income to repay their loans buy houses through subprime loans. As a result, the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States has intensified, and a series of financial innovations on Wall Street have greatly increased the subprime debt of global financial institutions, which means that global financial capital has been attracted to the creation of the subprime mortgage bubble in the United States, and the massive inflow of global speculative funds has made it possible. At present, no one can accurately estimate the size of the subprime mortgage market and its financial derivatives, because it involves too many investment banks, fund companies and banking institutions. However, some professionals conservatively estimate that it is about 5-6 trillion US dollars.

During the two years from 2004 to 2006, the interest rate increase of Federal Reserve 17 finally punctured this huge and brilliant subprime mortgage bubble, and the American mortgage market gradually entered a recession stage. The sharp rise in repayment interest rates and the decline in house prices have greatly increased the default rate of the US subprime mortgage market, which has dealt a fatal blow to the US subprime mortgage market and investment banks and financial institutions that have invested heavily in subprime debt. On April 2, 2007, New Century Financial Company, the second largest mortgage company in the United States, went bankrupt, which meant that the subprime mortgage crisis officially broke out. Since then, the American financial market has been plunged into a series of dazzling, shocking and far-reaching turbulent events. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage companies, have been taken over by the US government, while Bear Stearns has closed down, Merrill Lynch has been taken over, Lehman Brothers, the century-old investment bank, Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loan bank in the United States, and the most famous Citibank are all in jeopardy. These events show that the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States is gradually evolving into a full-scale financial crisis, and the financial tsunami is approaching. For a time, the United States, as the most powerful economy in the world and as the world financial center-Wall Street, was full of people's fears and anxieties.

In the face of such a financial disaster, the old American woman finally cried, because not only was her house forcibly taken back by the bank and auctioned out, but she also had to pay off all her debts, and she struggled all her life. But because of her greed, her advanced consumption and her high debt consumption, she is miserable at home now, and she is still empty-handed, heavily in debt, displaced and heartbroken when she is old. At this time, the old lady in China finally smiled. How happy she was! She worked so hard to save money all her life. When it was useful, house prices plummeted. When she saw that the auction price of the old lady's house in the United States was only a quarter of the original price, her eyes narrowed and she made a decision and bought it! This old American woman's house is really comfortable, China thought. The old lady in China is old. She not only lives in a comfortable new house, but also saves a lot of money and lives a leisurely and comfortable old age. In the tears and laughter of these two old ladies, we can not only think deeply about the principles of economics, but also slowly taste the different results brought by different attitudes towards life and ways of doing things, which is thought-provoking.