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Who's to blame for dangerous subprime mortgages?

We've all been reading stories about the subprime mortgage meltdown for months, but a comprehensive study by the Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit that works to stimulate growth in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, made the issue hit home.

A Philadelphia Inquirer front-page story on the study offered some heartbreaking cases of Philadelphians likely to lose their homes, and perhaps tumble into bankruptcy. It's a tragedy, an outrage.

To be precise, the TRF study was on predatory lending -- selling high-risk mortgages to people who cannot afford them. That's not quite the same as subprime mortgages, which are loans to people with poor credit. Not every subprime mortgage is predatory.

But most predatory loans are subprime mortgages.

The first homeowner described in the story bought a $66,900 house in 2003 with plans to fix it up and rent it out.

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CURRENCIES: Euro Lower After Trichet; Yen Slumps As Carry Back In ...

The euro fell against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank hiked its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.75% as expected and said rates are now "moderate" rather than "low." Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the Frankfurt-based ECB, which sets interest-rate policies in the 13 countries that use the euro, said rates remain "accommodative" and that the central bank will "very closely" monitor price developments, an indication that a rate hike in the next quarter is likely. But Trichet did make one concession, saying that rates are now "moderate." He added that he wasn't preparing markets for a "restrictive" policy. "Trichet opted for a less hawkish tone when he said that interest rates are now moderate rather than low," said Kathy Lien, chief strategist at DailyFX.com.