We finally came full circle relative to subprime, mortgage blues, and the subsequent recession. What we could not see in 2006 are new laws enacted today. Under sweeping financial overhauls that have now passed the House and Senate, home buyers won’t be able to get a mortgage without producing pay stubs or other evidence they can make their monthly payments.

A new consumer watchdog will police lenders who offer impossible-to-resist subprime mortgages and then jack up the interest rates to impossible-to-pay levels.

The bills, which still have to be blended into one that could reach the president’s desk this summer, also shine more light on complex but hidden financial instruments, the “derivatives” that made long-odds bets on whether Americans could make payments on mortgages they never should have qualified for.