[To throw salt in the wound, the harsh reality is that millions of the jobs that were created during that time were temporary, because they existed only as long as the real estate bubble existed (really, it was an asset bubble of almost ALL asset types).]
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines mortgage fraud as “the intentional misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission by an applicant or other interested parties, relied on by a lender or underwriter to provide funding for, to purchase, or to insure a mortgage loan.”
Many of those "jobs" also evidently relied upon a poorly calibrated moral compass and eyesight which facilitated "intentional misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission".
"Everybody cheats - that's what you have to do to survive" - that was the attitude observed and conveyed to me by a UCI Physics professor I served on a jury with back in 2004. He was frustrated and astounded by the level and sophistication of cheating he saw taking place in his classes.
No big surprise, then, to observe the same "Everybody cheats - that's what you have to do to survive" attitude among the "progressives" within the mortgage industry....
The proliferation of mortgage fraud must be seen within the context of the general decline in society's moral framework - and until THAT trend is reversed, I see no reason to believe the systemic corruption of our economic, governmental, and other institutions won't continue.
A Republic is a system, of governance characterized by the Rule of Law; and when the Law fails - the Republic fails.
Unless you just want an evolutionary repeat of the systemic corruption observed previously, the first "jobs, jobs, jobs" to be created should be related to Law enforcement - investigative, judiciary, and PUNITIVE.
It's called FRAUD for a reason. PUNISH IT. Because if the Republic does not - then Nature inevitably will.
Got Due Penalty?