Comments on: Against all reason, Bachmann and others blame 1977 fair-lending law for adding to economic crisis

By: Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Bachmann Big Spender

Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Bachmann Big Spender — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:05:14 +0000

[...] Michele Bachmann has been busy blaming poor people and minorities for the Wall Street meltdown and housing foreclosures, she’s also [...]

By: Duck

Duck — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:39:18 +0000

Blame, blame, blame there is enough blame to go around several times. The bottom line is “it always about the money” Clinton had an agenda and so did Bush. Increasing minority home ownership cannot be overly simplified as just not wanting to pay rent for the rest of your life. There was overt discrimination in the banking industry in regards to lending practices towards minorities, both presidents resolved to eliminate this somewhat subtle form of racism. Are Sub-Prime Mortgages or Predatory Lending the real culprit? I don’t know if it was Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac that invented either. So, by the same reasoning is it fair to blame them for the current crisis? Both agencies have dual alliances and receive their marching orders partly from the current administration and from their Board of Directors. Fannie and Freddie vice-versa any corporation is accountable ultimately to the shareholders (which unfortunately in this case are not the taxpayers). Corporations are in business to increase shareholder wealth, and if Fannie and Freddie did that, then they were successful. Again, a lot of focus lately has been on the Mortgage industry, watch out, next will be the credit card industry, who Bachmann will blame when the government has to bail out “Master Card” or “Visa” is anybody’s guess.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/18/business/fi-homes18

By: John K

John K — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:38:41 +0000

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75717

Guess again who’s to blame for U.S. mortgage meltdown
Analysts point not to greed, but to social activist politics
Posted: September 19, 2008
By Drew Zahn

While many pundits are pointing to corporate greed and a lack of government regulation as the cause for the American mortgage and financial crisis, some analysts are saying it wasn’t too little government intervention that cased the mortgage meltdown, but too much, in the form of activists compelling the government to pressure Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into unsound – though politically correct – lending practices.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis: Kevin Hassett

“Oh, and there is one little footnote to the story that’s worth keeping in mind while Democrats point fingers between now and Nov. 4: Senator John McCain was one of the three cosponsors of S.190, the bill that would have averted this mess.”

By: MN Loan Officer

MN Loan Officer — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:06:20 +0000

I concur wholly with Chris (9/25/08 @ 12:24 pm). This crisis was in no way created by the CRA. The only people braying on about “CRA, CRA” have no personal experience in the lending industry and have formed their opinions based entirely on what they have read on the internet. The disingenuousness of those trying to pin our woes on the CRA is almost enough to make me convert from being a republican to a democrat. If it were all about economic issues, I’d be there already.

By: John Herbster

John Herbster — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:47:35 +0000

Sen. John McCain foresaw the mortgage crisis more than two years before it happened, and co-sponsored legislation that would have required greater oversight of the mortgage lending entities. However the Democrats would not let it out of committee. Obama did not sign on as a co-sponsor. Read here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190

By: Eric Ferguson

Eric Ferguson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:02:18 +0000

Here’s an interesting paragraph from the NY Times story frmo 2004:

The debate on the changes has become so intense that it has reached the presidential race. Vice President Dick Cheney demurred when asked about the proposed changes in August at a campaign rally in Iowa. But last month, Senator John Kerry said that he strongly supported keeping the law in its current form, and accused the Bush administration of choosing “favors for special interests over opportunity for millions of average Americans.”

Sound familiar? Bush did favors for the big guys to make predatory lending easier, and now he wants to help them again to avoid the consequences of making bad loans with no thoughts beyond the fees they collected.

By: Eric Ferguson

Eric Ferguson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:55:09 +0000

Mark, did you actually read the article? It wasn’t CRA, but deregulation that gutted CRA, that allowed this to happen. It was allowing predatory loans that allowed this start. Note I said “start”, not “happen”, because there are lots of houses in middle class suburbs bought at bubble prices by people either ignorant or speculating.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:24:32 +0000

Mark,

You are wrong. CRA allowed banks to use alternative credit like utility and rental payments if needed to qualify borrowers. Homeownership classes are also required. CRA loans have a fractionally higher default rate than prime loans. The fallout from subprime loans is almost exclusively from refinancing and liar (no documentation) loans. To qualify for a CRA loan you need a job and a reasonable debt ratio just like a conventional loan. The push to blame CRA (and by extension) minorities is patently false.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:38:00 +0000

That 1977 law IS what got this mess started. The CRA pushed banks to make loans to people who normally wouldn’t qualify for a standard loan. And this current mess started from subprime fallout.

That said, I blame Democrats, Republicans, Wall Street, and banks for this mess.

By: George Hayduke

George Hayduke — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:14:46 +0000

These people are the embodiment of ugliness, starting with Michele Bachmann.