Given that subprime lenders are getting a mostly deserved bad rap of late, I've been on the lookout for articles about people who are doing subprime right. Yesterday I wrote about Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus's crusade to provide credit to low-income entrepreneurs.

Now the latest issue of Forbes features a profile of Martin Eakes, called subprime's Mr. Clean, who runs a South Carolina credit union and is also the founder of the Center for Responsible Lending. Forbes describes him as being "to mortgage lenders what Ralph Nader was to the auto industry."

Mr. Eakes has led the legislative charge against payday lending (which I would argue is mostly a non-issue), mortgage prepayment penalties (which I think are evil), and mortgage-broker fees (which, in excess, are also evil). In Congress, he has convinced the House to pass a bill requiring that lenders be more demanding in search of documentation showing that home buyers can actually afford what they're getting themselves into.

Mr. Eakes may be more extreme than most, but the Center for Responsible Lending's website is a great research for anyone interested in researching these issues, including a state-by-state analysis of subprime losses.

Och-Ziff Capital Management, an asset manager currently in the process of becoming public, seems to be "weathering the storm," according to DealBook. According to recently-filed paperwork related to the IPO, recent issues facing hedge funds (volatility spike, subprime issues, etc.) "have not materially impacted our funds' performance."

This leads me to believe that the funds were either bearish/uninvolved with subprime or they were long subprime but those losses were easily balanced out by some other positions' gains. Either way, the important thing is that the firm's funds are alive to trade another day unlike numerous Bear Stearns funds, Sowood, and so on.

It's refreshing to see the media finally covering some positive hedge fund headlines. I'm aware of many other hedge funds that are still up 6-8% net on the year. As I've said in an earlier post, there are two sides to every trade and, as a result, for every fund that is 'killed' by something like subprime there is another fund that is prospering due to the panic.

The entire investment community has been in awe of the market's recent gyrations: Why is it going down and why is it so volatile? Is the value of the Dow really oscillating up and down 1% per day, or is there some sort of mass hysteria work?

Ben Stein seems to think it's the latter:

... the fears and terrors about subprime mortgages have helped knock off 6.7 percent of the stock market's value in recent weeks. This amounts to about $1.1 trillion, or more than 30 times the losses so far in the subprime market. In other words, these subprime losses are wildly out of all proportion to the likely damage to the economy from the subprime problems.

Stein goes on to point out that sectors and stocks that are tied to subprime are being beaten down completely out of proportion to their actual exposure. Meanwhile, stocks that have no subprime exposure are also getting it handed to them.

Stein predicts that "smart, brave people" will make a lot of money buying right now, and he's one of the few pundits worth paying attention to.

More on Ben Stein:
Ben Stein sees through hedge fund lobby's baloney
Ben Stein blasts Supreme Court for failing to protect shareholders
Ben Stein outlines his perfect portfolio and gives more sage advice
Ben Stein: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the dips