General Discussion

And, the reason that resolving the housing crisis mattered to everyone was that investments in the securitized mortgages tied to these millions of borrowers' loans had made their way into mutual funds, pension plans, etc. - leaving folks like teachers, firefighters and other government workers facing the possibility of their pensions not being paid in full - which is, in fact, what happened in cities like Vallejo, CA and Detroit, MI. On top of that, the mounting number of foreclosed homes collapsed the entire housing market, affecting the value of even "responsible" homeowners' homes. What we all should have learned from that episode was that there often are externalities resulting from peoples' suffering that may well end up affecting all of us. Applied to today, even if you don't have coverage under Obamacare, the waves that will ripple through the entire healthcare industry as a result of cutting funding to Obamacare may well end up affecting all of us.