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Bush added thousands of new federal subsidy programs during his eight years in office. In 2008, there were 1,816 subsidy programs in the federal budget that spread hundreds of billions of dollars annually to special interest groups such as state governments, businesses, nonprofit groups, and individuals. The number of subsidy programs grew by 30 percent from 2000-2008.

One such subsidy was the American Dream Downpayment Initiative which cost $600 Million over 3 years from 2004-2007. This program subsidized low income homeowners to assist them to buy housing for no money down. The goal was to secure stability and prosperity, and the ownership dream was the way to achieve that. "America is a stronger country every single time a family moves into a home of their own," said Bush in a speech back in October 2004. To achieve that vision, Bush pushed new policies encouraging homeownership, such as the "zero-down-payment initiative," which was much as it sounds: a government-sponsored program that allowed people to get mortgages with no down payment. More exotic mortgages followed, including ones with no monthly payments for 24 months. Then there were mortgages with no documentation other than the say-so of the borrower. Absurd though this was, it paled in comparison to the financial innovations that surrounded those mortgages, derivatives built on other derivatives, packaged and repackaged until no one could identify what they contained and how much they were in fact worth.