Ohh, this made me mad

When I heard this story on Nightline, I was sooo angry. It's about how Ameriquest actively swindled low-income homeowners out of their savings, their homes and well, maybe their trust and some dignity. Corporate greed at its very worst.

But then the white hats...

State prosecutors and lending regulators in 49 states and the District have reached a wide-ranging $325 million settlement with Ameriquest Mortgage Co.

Cynics will say that it was just lawyers going for deep pockets to line their own, but these were not-in-it-for-the-bucks government lawyers who got this settlement, and it sounds like the homeowners will get some real money -- not a lot, not enough but more than just the usual crappy deal born out of really frivolous lawsuits -- like a month of free service (Netflix) or a 15-minute long-distance telephone card.

And ya' know what? It makes me proud to be a lawyer (Can I say that? maybe, to be safe, I should say "makes me proud of my chosen profession.") Some people might say less regulation is better, but I think this case illustrates that there are plenty of people willing to take advantage of the little guy, and we need a big guy (although not necessarily big brother) to watch out for them.

(okay... I'll hop off my soapbox now)