I fully understand how this mortgage crisis in the US is affecting a broad swath of the population. And people are getting hurt financially through no fault of their own. But when you see stories like this in the NY Times where they say

But borrowers like Mr. Doyle, the engineer in Northern California, say they are victims of their circumstances — housing prices collapsed and lending standards tightened just as they needed to sell or refinance.

And then find out in the next to last paragraph that

The Doyles took advantage of the housing boom by refinancing their home nearly every year since they bought it in 1995 for $275,000. Until their most recent loan they never had a problem making their payments. They invested much of the money in shares of companies that subsequently went bankrupt.

Subsequently went bankrupt? That’s not circumstances, dummy, that’s stupid investing. That guy is reaping the benefits of bad financial decisions. Pure and simple…