Posted on 06/30/2011 5:15:59 PM PDT by Kaslin
Subprime Scandal: Democrats thought they'd dammed up the truth about government's role in the financial crisis. But the levies are breaking, thanks to a spate of rogue new books on the subject.
The latest, "Reckless Endangerment," shreds the narrative carefully constructed by Democrats and the liberal media that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were only bit players in the crisis and followed Wall Street into subprime lending.
It details how the federally chartered mortgage giants in fact led the way in relaxing underwriting standards for the entire industry — thanks to relentless pressure from Democrats, who used them as off-budget piggy banks to fund their social crusade to boost minority homeownership (and shore up their voting base).
Though it largely repeats what conservative books like "The Great American Bank Robbery" and "The Housing Boom and Bust" have said, "Reckless" is written by a New York Times business writer. And that's got Rush Limbaugh touting it as a weapon Republicans can use against Democrats in the next election.
Suddenly, the debate over the causes of the epic housing crisis — which has plumbed Great Depression depths and only appears to be worsening — has reopened. And that's got Democrats nervous.
Earlier this week, Phil Angelides, the Democratic hack who ran the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's sham investigation, felt compelled to write a column for the Washington Post to try to plug the holes in the dike before it can spring any more inconvenient facts.
He insists his final report proves the crisis was caused by "the recklessness of the financial industry," and that the history books should be closed on the subject — period, end of story. But Angelides' report is a 550-page cover-up.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Angelides is one that hasn’t gotten near enough attention. Even Glenn Beck missed but I noticed him while digging for info Glenn mentioned.
Chairman of both the far left Apollo Alliance and the FCIC.
Making Barney, Maxine and Chris Dodd testify under otah is a joke.
None of them ever kept an oath in their life.
Lying is a way of life for those three, There is no fear of perjury as they know there is no one with the courage to prosecute them for it.
By the way what happened to Maxine’s ethics trial(joke).
“I hope Issa makes......”
I do, too. I can’t make up my mind about Issa. He seems to poke his nose into enough potential blockbuster cases to keep his name in the news, but I have yet to see him actually get any names taken or any butts kicked.
Looks like Obama used him for same.
Angeledis leaves out the government’s role in creating this crisis. That aspect is glaringly absent in his article and his Report. Certainly there was plenty of blame to go around for this crisis in both the public and the private sector. I doubt that it would have ever happened if the Clinton administration had not put the Community Reinvestment Act on steroids.
In the administration’s rush to make home ownership affordable to everyone, regardless of their clients inability to pay, these sub prime mortgages still proved to be unaffordable.
Angeledis was also the Secretary of the California Treasury when this was going on, as Rick Sperry pointed out in his book, “The Great American Bank Robbery.” He stated, “Angeledis steered billions of dollars in state funds to CRA friendly banks that loaded up with subprime and other risky investments. Then he sank billions more into subprime securites backed by Freddie Mac.He also urged the state’s two biggest pension funds - the California Public Employees Retirement System and the CaliforniaTeachers retirement system - to invest more in the state’s urban communities.” California took a bath suffering huge losses as a result of Angeledis advice. But then he seemed to have escaped blame by leaving office in 2007, the year the crisis broke.
Angeledis white washed report and his article are examples of revisionist history at its worst.
Congressman Barney Frank says he wants some of those responsible for our current financial meltdown to be prosecuted. And we couldn't agree more. First up in the court dock: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Even by the extraordinarily loose standards of Congress, it takes some chutzpah for someone such as Frank to suggest that he'll seek prosecutions for those behind the housing and financial crunch and for what he called "a strongly empowered systemic risk regulator." Frank: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's point man in Washington. For Frank, perhaps more than any single individual in private or public life, is responsible for both the housing market mess and subsequent bank disaster. And no, this isn't partisan hyperbole or historical exaggeration. But first, a little trip down memory lane. (Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorial.com ...
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8-5-08----Village Voice
CUOMO AND BILL CLINTON CREATED CONDITIONS FOR MELTDOWN
Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country’s current crisis.
He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the sub-prime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded “kickbacks” to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans.
Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why. . . SOURCE http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-05/news/how-andrew-cuomo-gave-birth-to-the-crisis-at-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac/
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Feb 8, 2010
Editorial, The Wall St Journal
FR Posted February 08, 2010 by The Raven ...
HUD's Web visitors learn that in 1999 "Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance—to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.
The historic action raised the required percentage of mortgage loans for low- and moderate-income families that the companies must buy from the current 42 percent of their total purchases to a new high of 50 percent—a 19 percent increase—in the year 2001." ... (Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
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REFERENCE Entitled, "Highlights of HUD Accomplishments 1997-1999," the document chronicles the "accomplishments under the leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who took office in January 1997."
HUD's Web visitors learn that in 1999: "Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance—to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.
Cuomo's historic action raised the required percentage of mortgage loans for low- and moderate-income families that the companies must buy from the current 42% of their total purchases to a new high of 50%—-----a 19% increase—in the year 2001."
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