And this would be the same Obama who got almost $130,000 from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. (RR) Listen to yourselves. Everything is Clinton's fault. Isn't it time to stop blaming others and take on some responsibility? Buck-up, be brave and say it like it is and stop passing the buck. You do no honor to the reputations of Americans with this sniveling, cowardly drivel. Versus liberals who blame everything including the weather on Bush (everything bad that is)? Either debate the facts or go whine elsewhere. The government regulations that brought us to where we are today were passed under Clinton (and a republican congress, so there is blame to go around). And measures Bush tried to take to stop the looming crisis were blocked by democrats (and likely some republicans). Yet the left still wants to blame Bush for not stopping a crisis that they refused to let him attempt to stop. Rather than address the issue, you turn the tables. Nope not everything is Bush's fault - in fact most things are not his fault. But for a man who says he's "the decider" when things go bad he sure is no where to be found. Bush tried to fix the problem. http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/91BC998F-5EC0-48BB-A23B-9E9FE09C3E9A/ Democrats blocked it because, according to Barney Frank, there was no impending crisis in regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said all tighter regulation would do is make it harder for poor people to get a home loan. Well, poor people getting home loans is why we are where we are and this was started in the Carter administration and seriously beefed up during the Clinton administration. There, issue addressed. Well that is an interesting article and we could discuss it further if it interests you - but what it has to do with the Clinton administration is still not clear. During the Carter administration they passed the Community Reinvestment Act. It encouraged (govt speak for do it or else) lending institutions to make more risky loans than they were at the time. During the Clinton administration (after republicans gained control of congress), that Act was beefed up. This 'encouraged' even more risky loans. Not all bad loans were made directly because of the CRA, but many were. So the government wasn't just lax in it's lack of regulation, but they actually 'encouraged' many of the loans now resulting in the fall of many of these large institutions. Now that it has hit the fan, the same people who said there was no coming crisis in 2003 are trying to blame ... The Clinton administration beefed up a program created by Carter's Administration )Community reinvestment Act). The CRA, in short, stated that in order for banks to expand their business they must be making loans to the communities that the banks had offices in. In other words, if I have a bank that is doing business in a depressed neighborhood and I wanted to open another bank somewhere else, regulators would first look to see if I was "investing" in the community. Banks were, or course, investing. They were paying out interest on the money that folks deposited. But that wasn't good enough. They wanted banks to give loans to the depressed neighborhoods. These were risky investments. Thus the subprime mess. But I do want to point out again that there is blame to go around. Bush, if he saw the coming crisis, why didn't he do more? He has always sucked at taking his message to the people. Clinton put the teeth in Carter's bill. Republicans in congress were in charge when the bill was beefed up, so they not only didn't stop it, they helped ensure it passed. They are every bit as responsible as Clinton. And then they failed when it came to helping out Bush to prevent it. Democrats in congress likely helped the republicans under Clinton. And they prevented Bush from taking any action. Carter actually doesn't deserve much blame. Sure, it was his baby, but it didn't become dangerous until nearly two decades later. He still sucks though.  The editorial is very vague on how enforcing the Community Redevelopment Act led to the subprime meltdown. Banning redlining is not the same thing as forcing mortgage lenders to lower their standards as to who gets a loan. The bulk of the bad loans have occurred in recent years with new "innovative" products like no principal payment schemes and the like. There is no doubt that some of the bad loans can be laid at the feet of these regulations but it is unlikely that the bulk of this crisis has much to do with them. What free-marketeers rarely talk about is how huge crashes such as we see here are part of the market cycles - though this one was likely pushed-off for many years by the Fed. The conflict between the White House and Congress over Fannie & Freddie had less to do with improving the regulatory oversight than with which branch of government would be in charge - this was a Republican controlled co... Let me preface my remarks by saying that I frankly have paid little attention to the details of the housing,banking,mortgage and government regulation issues over the last few years. I guess that means I'm talking out of my ass but since I'm admitting to it,I'll go on and do so. I think sillysam's comment sums up the CRA situation very well. I agree with n2sooners that there is plenty of blame to go around. It did indeed start under the Clinton administration with a republican controlled congress helped by colluding democrats. It then become worse (as these things are wont to do) before exploding. Bush and the congress deserve blame for how they have dealt with (or failed to deal with) thi... And that is the reaction I would expect from misty-eyed true believers when reality comes crashing in on their dream world - come up with some excuse and blame it on others. But we live in times when it is too dangerous to leave these decisions up to them, we need hard headed realists running our government for a change - not the party of denial. Free-Market or Big Government - who's going to save our asses? Again. A refreshingly balanced perspective for a change! Having been in the business a long time as well as having owned several properties over the past several years, I have certainly met many “bad” real estate agents, horrible loan officers, dumb-as-a-post builders and worse. But that doesn’t excuse people from buying something they can’t afford just because a bank is willing to loan them the money to do it. http://www.prestiti-online.org <a href="http://www.prestiti-online.org">Prestito</a> |
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