Bank of America has made a deal for $4 billion to buy what the New York Times referred to as a "troubled giant." No, not Fred Thompson. Bank of America bought Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender.

What does this mean? That you're finally going to have to learn what the word "subprime" means, because this housing crisis story refuses to go away, much like the Spears family. We can't do anything about latter (God knows we've tried), but in the meantime, read up on our economy's collapse with the 23/6 FAQ: subprime lending crisis.

Q: What is a subprime loan?

A: A subprime loan is a loan made to a borrower with a bad credit history.

Q: Like me? Am I subprime?

A: I don't know, how's your credit rating?

Q: My what?

A: Yeah, you're subprime.

Q: How is that loan different from a regular one?

A: Because the loan is being made to what's considered a riskier borrower, the interest rates will be higher.

Q: But shouldn't interest rates be lower on those will less ability to pay, and higher for rich people?

A: Welcome to capitalism, Che.

Q: How has subprime lending affected the housing market?

A: Beginning around 1996, housing prices began to escalate rapidly, going up 124% by 2006. Also, because of, among other things, the dot-com collapse of 2000 and subsequent recession, interest rates were lowered. This caused...excuse me, are you snoring?

Q: Sorry, just nodded off. I'm with you. Keep going.

A: This caused many people to refinance their mortgages and lenders started offering low-interest to subprime borrowers.

Q: Like me.

A: Yeah, like you. Many of these loans were offered with teaser rates.

Q: You mean like with hot girls? Like on the Budweiser commercials?

A: No, that means low introductory interest rates, which jump higher after a few years. These are adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs.

Q: That's not a good tease. That's a bad tease.

A: You're really coming along. But it gets worse. When housing prices fell in 2006, people could no longer refinance to keep their mortgage going, so they defaulted. And 450,000 subprime ARMs will hit their first increase each quarter of 2008.

Q: What happens when they default?

A: The lender forecloses. By October 2007, 16% of subprime loans with ARMs were 90-days into default, triple the number of 2005. A lot of these ARMs were also packaged as investments to be bought and sold, and so the subprime crisis is also hitting the banks very hard.

Q: I thought the point of an FAQ was that, when it was done, you actually had a better understanding of the topic.

A: Go back and read it again. You'll get it.

Q: How do you get into the "prime" category to get a better loan?

A: You mean how do you get into that category?

Q: Yeah

A: You don't.

Q: Shoot. Because I just got this letter from the bank. Okay if I crash with you for a few days?