Politicians love to blame the financial crisis and by extension the recession on greedy bankers, but as the Wall Street Journal notes today many of them, like New York Attorney General and former Clinton Administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo have much to answer for: With his fraud lawsuit last week against […]
Fannie Mae
Anatomy of a Crisis: The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Debacle
Republican members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have released a report analyzing the role of the government sponsored enterprises (GSE), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in the housing meltdown. You can read the full report here, but here are the highlights: Political pressure led to the erosion of responsible lending practices: […]
Barney Frank’s Bad Idea
From the Wall Street Journal: Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “roll the dice” in the name of affordable housing. That didn’t turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is […]
Is More Spending the Answer to Our Economic Problems?
I mentioned last week that the Government and Federal Reserve had spent, lent or committed $12.8 trillion, here’s video from stopspendingourfuture.org that helps put that in perspective: In short, we have spent more bailouts than we did on World War 2!
What Caused The Finacial Crisis?
A lot has been written about greed and mismanagement on Wall Street but that’s only half the story… Make no mistake greed and mismanagement played their part but so did government intervention and regulatory policy and that’s the largely untold story: Related Speaking of doom, what if Obama only makes it worse? – John Ibbitson, […]
WSJ: Congress Whitewashing Fannie and Freddie
With all the buzz about the Feds corruption probe of Gov. Illinois Rod Blagojevich it’s easy for things like this Wall Street Journal column to be missed. Whitewashing Fannie Mae Congress begins its self-absolution campaign. Henry Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met Tuesday to examine “The Role of Fannie Mae and Freddie […]
An Open Letter From Steven Horwitz
Economist Steven Horwitz published this open letter on September 28, 2008, if you haven’t read it you should. My friends, In the last week or two, I have heard frequently from you that the current financial mess has been caused by the failures of free markets and deregulation. I have heard from you that the […]
Credit Crisis: Chris Shays Comes Out Swinging At Congress
Democrats in Congress may not want to talk about their roll in causing the subprime meltdown by refusing to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn) does: H/T: Hot Air.
Finally: McCain Blasts Obama, Democrats for Fannie/Freddie Meltdown
Update: Scroll down for the video. It looks like the gloves are really off, John McCain is going to finally start talking about the economy and going after Barack Obama and Democrats for their roll in the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What […]
In Their Own Words: What They Said About Fannie & Freddie
The Wall Street Journal has a long history over covering the abuses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today they’re naming names and calling out the Democrats who helped cause our financial crisis. House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003: Rep. Gregory Meeks, (D., N.Y.): . . . I am just pissed off at […]
Flamethrower: Thaddeus McCotter
It’s pure unadulterated demagoguery but it’s still a hell of speech! With all due respect Congressman Wall Street didn’t cause this problem… They played their part but it was Congress and government regulators who, in the name of affordable housing, compelled banks to write these risky sub-prime loans. It was Congress who created Fannie Mae […]
Video: In Their Own Words…
Video: Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
This video has been floating around the web for a couple of days… It provides a detailed look at how the Community Reinvestment Act was used to push banks into sub-prime mortgages and how that distorted the housing market… And helped create the bubble that burst. A couple of caveats though… First it lays the […]
Fannie & Freddie…
I’m not in a writing mood today but I hate to leave this page silent so I thought I’d share a few must reads on the Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac bailout with you. First is the Op Ed by John McCain in today’s Wall Street Journal: We’ll Protect Taxpayers From More Bailouts By John […]
The Gaffe That Wasn’t…
The Huffington Post is reporting that Sarah Palin has made her first gaffe: Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend. Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending […]