这个DEBT BUBBLE已经引起SENATORS的怀疑了. 原因是"钱"太CHEAP了, 银行巴不得借出去. 还是FED的失误. 跟去年比, "钱"至少增加了18% (跟中国印的大致相符,因为RMB紧盯美元). 这些X BACKED LOANS 存在着极大的危险,说白了就是借钱不还.最近的M&A也是基于以上的推理. 今天的经济数据表明经济还会进一步的恶化, BERNANKE虽然在DENY,可是数据是准的.他最担心的就是这个.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who earlier called the whole episode a "chronology of regulatory neglect," welcomed Bernanke's announcement of Fed hearings.

"It's past time for action," Dodd said in a statement, which urged the central bank to "move expeditiously" to promulgate tougher rules.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who has introduced legislation to help homeowners avoid foreclosures, said Congress needed to act in time to deal with thousands of homeowners facing the threat of foreclosure.

"I hope Chairman Bernanke is right when he says that a slumping housing market will not affect the broader economy, but I would not bet the house on it," Schumer said in a statement.

Dodd, Schumer and other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee wrote Bernanke a letter last month encouraging the Fed to write new rules against predatory lending in the subprime market. They urged the central bank to require all lenders to assess a borrower's ability to repay before making a home loan, classify as unfair and deceptive any failure by lenders to earmark money for payment of taxes and insurance and restrict the use of home loans with only minimal documentation required of borrowers.

Home-mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures have been surging in recent months, especially among borrowers who took out subprime mortgages.