In the Medieval era -- when the periodic table of the elements was comprised of only Fire, Earth, Air, and Water -- alchemists posited the existence of a fifth magical substance, Quintessence, which when mixed in combinations of the other four would create every other form of matter. They searched in vain for this ethereal substance in their pursuit of a means of changing base metals into gold.  

Their quest went unrealized, but this magical quintessence was subsequently discovered five centuries later by the new alchemists: mortgage bankers and investors.  They found a way to turn worthless mortgages into hordes of gold.  Or at least they thought they had.

There were other factors that contributed to the collapse of the credit markets. Low interest rates by the Federal Reserve, lowered standards by FannieMae and FreddyMac, securitized mortgages (derivatives and collateralized debt obligations -- a real alchemic brew), the machinations of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the Community Reinvestment Act, Alan Greenspan, and so forth. etc. But of themselves, and even in concert, they could not have brought about a collapse of the magnitude that ensued.  

So what supplied this quintessential element? It was the opportunity to exploit the sudden and coincidental housing needs of millions of illegal aliens with subprime mortgages.  The grand schemes and diabolical financial instruments would otherwise lie fallow without a huge base of mortgages to hold up the Ponzi pyramid, and the new market of the 12 -- more likely 20 -- million housing-starved illegal alien populace was the ripe, low hanging fruit.

Now a little math here. Even at ten to a house, that would require one or two million dwellings. Did anyone think that banks and lenders would not see that huge market and not lust for a share of it?  Or that they would not come up with ways to bring it about when the elites in business, politics and media were putting out the welcome mat for cheap workers and future voters?

With deceptive media and obfuscating punditry, a false picture was painted that the people who got these subprime loans were poor folks or house flippers, or greedy boomers who re-financed to buy their new Volvo and swimming pool.  Nope. Wrong!  Those cases were few.  In actuality, those subprime mortgages issued in the last several years that went into foreclosure went mostly to illegal aliens, the exploiting landlords who rented to illegal aliens, and other citizen minorities who lost jobs to illegal aliens, especially displaced African-Americans in the agricultural, trades and services industries.

It doesn’t take the research resources of the Federal Reserve or Fannie Mae or the Wall Street Journal to discover this linkage of the subprime mortgages to the illegal alien customer base. A few hours on Google will bring it out with startling clarity. The distribution of subprimes going into foreclosure in the 2005-2007 period that commenced the current collapse closely matches the concentrations of illegal aliens -- Southern and Central Valley of California, Nevada, Texas, the southwest border states, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and metro areas like Denver, Chicago, and Cleveland, and the Washington suburbs.  The matches correlate to the ZIP code, or even more accurately, to the neighborhood.  

To glimpse just an overview of this illegal alien/subprime correlation, one can go to two websites; one that provides maps of the subprime foreclosures (www.realtytrac.com), and another that reveals the concentration of illegal alien populations (pewhispanic.org). After 2008, the spread of the housing collapse fanned out into other neighborhoods as the effects of the collapse and the following recession spread beyond the illegal alien concentrations. But these later upscale neighborhood foreclosures are effects, not causes. They flow from the collapsing economy precipitated by the failed subprimes to illegals.

For further validation, investigation would show that many of these failed mortgages were granted to unsophisticated buyers with no Social Security number, or a stolen number, or more commonly in recent years, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).   Who is that group?  Not blacks.  Not boomers. Not even speculators. They have valid SS numbers.  Who's left? You figure.  There are reliable data that in the Southern California market alone 40% of the loans went to historically unqualified illegal aliens or the citizen landlords running illegal alien crash pads.  A study at the start (2004) of the subprime lending fiasco by the Greenlining Institute in California backs up this finding.  It is reinforced by other studies, including a 2007 analysis by the Center for Responsible Lending.  Even in the shadow of the Capitol dome, the foreclosed homes are compacted in the neighborhoods where illegal aliens settled.

The actual percentages are probably much higher, because the fraudulent paperwork that facilitated many of these “liar loans” hides the illegal status of the borrowers and does not address the status of the renters.  

The correlation of subprimes going into foreclosure with the illegal alien demographics was traceable as early as 2006, but never warranted any investigative journalism by the major media.  Those living in towns and neighborhoods where the scenario was rapidly unfolding (like me in suburban Northern Virginia) were well aware of the phony financing schemes that were propping up the subprime housing purchases for patently unqualified illegal alien newcomers.  However, the only published acknowledgment of the correlation was by an unheralded blogger using the nom-de-web "The Undocumented Blogger" in 2007.

The rest of the story is now well known.  Even outlets like the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are starting to post articles that ever so subtly admit that the subprime mess was concentrated in the illegal communities.  They report how collaborative realtors made their commissions.  The brokers and lenders made their profits then sold the paper.  So did the investors and funds managers. Then the big moneyed hedge funds got in on the bonanza.  The gap between lenders and borrowers went out of sight.  Every transaction along the way made somebody big bucks.  Even the landlords did well on rents and house appreciation.  Until the collapse of the Immigration Reform (i.e., amnesty) bill  in 2007, the housing future for illegal aliens looked like it would be secured by the full faith and credit of the United States government and championed by the media and government elites.  

The housing bubble has burst. The illegal renters lost jobs and were evicted. The landlords couldn't service the mortgage without their numerous roomers.  The balloons that are a feature of nearly all these subprimes came due and the owners could not meet the huge increases in monthly payments.  With lowering home values, more mortgages went upside-down and refinancing became impossible.  It was easier to walk away and be foreclosed.  

The full story on the subprime mortgage collapse is yet to be written.  The blame is widespread -- lenders, appraisers, realtors, politicians, protective media, and the borrowers themselves.  Besides the ethical violations, the underlying criminal activity -- fraud, misrepresentations, kickbacks, tax evasion, outright theft -- would overpopulate many a jail.  But in the end the innocent taxpayer, who pays his bills and lives up to his contracts, will pay for the damages of those who didn't, with higher taxes, higher mortgage rates, higher welfare costs, and lowered home values.

There is a moral for our ruling elites in this subprime story.  Your actions in recklessly approving and facilitating bad policies will have many other unforeseen consequences far afield from the original intent.  Your support for unqualified home buyers resulted in the mess we are in today.  Yet you foolishly are repeating this folly with bizarre energy and health care programs which lead into similar terrae incognitae.

For the rest of you normal Americans, if you think we needed 20 million-plus illegals to cut your grass and clean your toilets, and you are now looking for a job while watching your 401k retirement funds, stock portfolios, and home values going south, was it worth it?