Clinton administration's responsibility for the current subprime criss

[appeal2]

Remember when the Clinton DOJ busted Fleet Bank because they weren’t making enough loans to blacks and blacks were being disproportionately turned down for mortgages. Fleet caved and so did a number of other other large banks. You’ll have to do the research but I remember it distinctly.

[NDNBill]

The above posts cover most of the ground.

Size of the problem - charts on % of mortgage delinquencies around the U.S. as of 7/2007 - low % of mortgages delinquent - although the Federal National Mortgage Assocn (Fannie Mae) repackages mortgage loans into the ‘secondary markets’.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/07/brief-history-m.html

“A History of Mortgage Bankers” subtitled “The Evolution of the Mortgage Industry” :
http://www.baronmortgage.com/Mortgage_Companies_and_Brokers.shtml

Mortgage-x.com, an independent information service, has probably more than most would want to know about the different types of mortages:
http://www.mortgage-x.com/

[jwparkerjr]

re: Both political parties get equal share of the blame in my opinion.

Wish I could agree on that, but in my mind the Republicans have to accept a great deal more of the blame than do the Lefties. Lefties do the weird things they do because of some natural, inborn traits that seem to be beyond the control of the liberal. WE should have known better. Actually lots of us did, and tried to sound the alarm, but alas to no avail. Any criticism of Bush et al was met around here with responses that ran the gamut from mild reprimand to open flaming. And at some point we convinced ourselves that nothing but the WOT terror mattered. Turns out that was not so.

[Pagey]

bttt

[Pelham]

You may not want to pursue that line of questioning. What I remember is an Administration that bragged about “Ownership Society” programs like this, which added gas to the housing bubble:

* American Dream Downpayment Initiative, which provides down payment assistance to approximately 40,000 low-income families;
* Affordable Housing. The President has proposed the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit, which would increase the supply of affordable homes;
* Helping Families Help Themselves. The President has proposed increasing support for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunities Program; and
* Simplifying Homebuying and Increasing Education. The President and HUD want to empower homebuyers by simplifying the home buying process so consumers can better understand and benefit from cost savings. The President also wants to expand financial education efforts so that families can understand what they need to do to become homeowners.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040809-9.html

[Pelham]

The Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates.

[Pelham]

Securitization of mortgage backed securities into CDOs and their derivatives, and the resulting separation of the mortgage writer from the mortgage holder changed the nature of real estate lending. This is one of the factors that led to what we are witnessing.