Posted on 07/03/2011 6:09:37 AM PDT by Liz
“Reckless Endangerment” a scalding new book ....... is another cautionary tale about government’s terrifying self-confidence.........."a story of what happens when Washington decides, in its infinite wisdom, that every living, breathing citizen should own a home.” The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act pressured banks to relax lending standards......... In 1994, Bill Clinton proposed increasing homeownership through a “partnership” between government and the private sector, principally orchestrated by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae’s political machine dispensed campaign contributions, gave jobs to friends and relatives of legislators, hired armies of lobbyists (even paying lobbyists not to lobby against it), paid academics who wrote papers validating the homeownership mania, and spread “charitable” contributions to housing advocates across the congressional map. By 2003, the government was involved in financing almost half — $3.4 trillion — of the home-loan market..........by summer 2005, almost 40% of new subprime loans were for amounts larger than the value of the properties. “Reckless Endangerment” is a study of contemporary Washington, where showing “compassion” with other people’s money pays off in the currency of political power, and currency.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
And Reserve Primary breaks the buck and all comes crashing down!
Thanks all, I haven’t picked up the book yet but I’m learning a lot here this morning.
But how many illegals got subprime loans?
It couldn’t have been that many?
Or could it?
I don’t think the racial characteristics of the borrowers matters, other than they lied about their ability to pay.
W never called himself a conservative...
I’m not wrong. Democrats are 100% responsible for the size and scope of sub prime collapse. Read Reckless Endangerment.
The column, Gretchen Morgenson's book (although they both are too kind ["compassion"...Dems only manipulate and deceive their base for their own agenda of control]), and the thread should be required reading for generations to come.
Fannie/Freddie are centerpieces of the criminal enterprise called the Democrat Party---where Dem cronies and collaborators loot the organization, get cushy jobs, bonuses, and the like. Fannie Mae’s political machine dispensed campaign contributions, gave jobs to friends and relatives of legislators, hired armies of lobbyists (even paying lobbyists not to lobby against it), paid academics who wrote papers validating the home ownership mania, and spread “charitable” contributions to housing advocates across the congressional map.
"the criminal enterprise called the Democrat Party"
a factual statement...
As I’ve posted time and again-----whenever Dems and their crony orgs like PP and the ACLU------start bleeding about “being for their fellow man”……………..you can make book that they’re conniving to make a buck on it.
Which presidential candidate called for Fannie and Freddie to INCREASE purchasing of mortgages in 2004?
Which president appointed Mel Martinez and Alphonso Jackson to the head of HUD to force banks to give mortgages to minorities?
If you believe the republicans are innocent of the mess then you are burying your head in the sand.
Did you go look at the information on "Ol Dan Tucker's" page, or not?
Wayne Barrett described this whole scenario three years ago in the liberal Village Voice:
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/541234?ref=patrick.net
Nonsense. Why don’t you stick ole’ dan up your ass.
I have no patience for right wingers who succumb to left wing moral equivalence guilt trips. There’s a name for right wingers like you...stupid shit. Grow a pair.
The debte is over. A consensus has formed Democrats are 100% responsible for the sub primer fiasco.
And which president (and party) called for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in both 2003 and 2005?
Clue: it was George W. Bush and the Republicans. You could look it up.
Yeah, they let Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the Democrats get away with blocking the reform efforts with a Senate filibuster both times. But that doesn't make them perpetrators, only accessories.
He’s black.
Awwww! Isn't that sweet. Just like a liberal democrat. Name calling and swearing means you have no rebuttal and have to revert to childishness.
Nonsense. Why don’t you stick ole’ dan up your ass.
Still refuse to see the truth.
Grow a pair.
I did - a long time ago when I realized the GOP under Bush was a failure. Bush and his policies gave us Obama.
Grow a pair.
Did you say that about Bush when the dems pushed him around for eight years?
But that doesn't make them perpetrators, only accessories.
Pretty fine line there. Bush pushed for years for Congressional ways to "increase home ownership" so the numbers for the GDP would look good.
Republicans did not feed off the housing bubble. Democrats did.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
In Bush’s June 17, 2002 speech, he also called for the creation of the American Dream Down Payment Fund. “And so here are some of the ways to address the issue. First, the single greatest barrier to first time homeownership is a high downpayment. It is really hard for many, many, low income families to make the high downpayment. And so that’s why I propose and urge Congress to fully fund the American Dream Downpayment Fund. This will use money, taxpayers’ money to help a qualified, low income buyer make a downpayment. And that’s important.”
____________________________ These dollars look like a drop in a very large bucket. - The American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI) was signed into law on December 16, 2003. The American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act authorizes up to $200 million annually for fiscal years 2004 - 2007.
ADDI Funding Status
In FY 2007, Congress appropriated $24,750,000 for ADDI. Previously, Congress appropriated $74,513,000 in FY2003 and $86,984 in FY2004, $49,600,000 in FY2005 and $24,750,000 in FY2006. ADDI provides downpayment, closing costs, and rehabilitation assistance to eligible individuals. The amount of ADDI assistance provided may not exceed $10,000 or six percent of the purchase price of the home, whichever is greater. The rehabilitation must be completed within one year of the home purchase. Rehabilitation may include, but is not limited to, the reduction of lead paint hazards and the remediation of other home health hazards. Eligible Customers http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/addi/
From NY Times - September 11, 2003
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ‘‘The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.
So, instead, they weakened EVERYONE’s buying power. I guess that’s what makes it fair. I’m sure glad they’re looking out for all of us.
“Grow a pair.”
Run back to Huff Po and tell them how you enterrf the right wing lair and stuck your tongue out. They’ll all clap their flippers for you and say my hero.
Our business is concluded.
Thank God. I've enough vileness from you.
You missed the point. It's not that conservatives are equally guilty, the point is that Bush was not a conservative.
Or, at least that's how I understood it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.