Nothing sinister about subprime mortgages

PETER KENNEDY suggests that subprime mortgages were part of an intricate web of deceit by the Bush administration to support the present war in Iraq (Letters, Sept 4).

The US property bubble inflated the same way as the Irish bubble until recently. Where ours is deflating, though, the US bubble burst.

As property prices rose, US lending institutions offered subprime mortgages, as ours have offered 100% mortgages, in order to stay in business. That’s capitalism.