Sooner or later, Washington conservatives get around to blaming the crisis of the day on the Clintons.

The crisis on Wall Street, which is being compared to a second "Grapes of Wrath"-style depression, is no exception.

Republican hack Tucker Carlson and former Florida Representative Joe Scarborough are claiming that the bad mortgages are the result of the Clinton policies in the mid-90's that loosened lending regulations so that more people could buy homes, including people who really couldn't afford them.

But that doesn't answer the question of why two states - Florida and Nevada - have more foreclosures than anywhere else. And it doesn't explain the fact that William Jefferson Clinton left office with a huge surplus.

It also doesn't look at the reality of home ownership for average people.

People need homes. We have to live somewhere. Many people choose to rent because they aren't ready - not because they can't afford to buy.

Mountains of studies confirm that average buyers enter the real estate market when they feel secure. They want to settle down in a specific community, they're getting married, and most importantly - they feel confident about their employment future.

People don't buy homes when they are experiencing job insecurity. And most people love home ownership. Even those with low down-payment loans do everything to keep their homes.

Two events cause most foreclosures: divorce and job loss. Yes, people make bad investment decisions, but talk to realtors who have been in the business for awhile and they will tell you that homes are often protected in bankruptcies caused by too much credit debt, uninsured medical expenses, and dozens of other problems.

But job loss is too big of a problem to overcome for many people.

The dirty little secret that none of these politicians are talking about is how many millions of Americans have lost a job in the last five years. And when these folks get another job, many of them don't get the same pay.

Employment conditions have changed radically since the mid-80's. The unions have been virtually destroyed. Large companies have downsized, manufacturing has moved off-shore, and small businesses have hired employees at lower wages, increasingly without benefits.

Tucker and Joe, nice try, but the truth is the money coming in for many households has not kept pace with the cost of living.