Some commentators, like JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, say the US subprime crisis is on the way to sorting itself out and that the market can take care of itself. But that hasn't stopped the presidential candidates from coming up with their own solutions to the problem. For a good summary of their positions, check out this piece in Forbes.

Republicans Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike huckabee and Democrats John Edwards and Hillary Clinton want a freeze in interest rates to give the market time to recover. It's a reactive move, playing to voters' insecurities, and not that smart because people will still be left with the debt, and in any case, it doesn't address the big issue of falling house prices. Barack Obama wants to give homeowners on less than $50,000 a year a 10 per cent tax credit and he wants to set up a government fund to help in-debt homeowners avoid foreclosures. Interesting idea but who will pay for it? Obama say lenders who acted irresponsibly would put up some of money but it remains to be seen how that would be established. And in any case, taxpayers will still end up footing some of the bill.

All up, the solutions seem vague. No one seems to have come up with the answer that will fix this problem.