Toasted

"You can't buy a toaster in America that has a one in five chance of exploding. But you can buy a mortgage that has a one in five chance of exploding, and they don't even have to tell you about it..." observes Elizabeth Warren in today's Huffington Post. "We have consumer protection for everything you touch, taste, smell, feel... But there is no equivalent for credit cards, for mortgages; there's nothing."

Warren ought to know, because she heads the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP program and has long advocated for stronger consumer protections. "I teach contract law at Harvard Law School, and I can't understand my own credit card," she adds. "No, I am not kidding you."