Irresponsible mortgage lending brought down the U.S. economy. So you'd think that the lesson has been learned.

But it hasn't.

In fact, one of the worst instigators of questionable mortgage lending right now is the U.S. government, via the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA or 'Ginnie Mae').

While public hatred is mostly directed elsewhere, GNMA has quietly mutated into a market-deforming giant over the last two years, guaranteeing $826 billion of mortgages with taxpayer money.

It could very well be one of the largest problems right now for the U.S. housing market, and thus for the U.S. economy as a whole.

That's because, according to a report from The Center For Public Integrity, many of its guarantees back extremely questionable mortgage lenders. Thus it's as if we didn't learn a thing from the crisis and GNMA continues turbo-charging us towards the next housing disaster.

So steer clear of these names and get the word out:

Note that the 'Compare Ratio' shown in the following data is a comparison of a lender's default rates with other lenders in a geographic region, for Federal Housing Association loans. For example, if a lender has a compare ratio of 200 percent, then it is defaulting at twice the rate of its competitors.

These are highlights from extensive research done by The Center for Public Integrity.

