I'm glad to see that they did try to sound the alarm. But now is the time to pound this with FACTS and NAMES. I don't care how nasty and partisan they might sound. I'd rather go down in flames kicking and screaming from the rooftops, if that happens, than be "nice guys" and try to "get along".
I'm with you. I've had it with spineless Republicans.
The President was right to be proud of seeing this happen. And what he said has really nothing directly to do with the Fannie/Freddie debacle.
Basic economics: As businesses grow, so does the economy. This means people have newer availability of jobs to seek. This can also mean they have more income. When they have more income, this increases their opportunities for home ownership. There are many people all across the "race/ethnicity/gender/orientation-pinwheel" of humanity with great credit, who are responsible, and would like to own a home. As the Bush economic plan was successful, these people were able to find either higher paying jobs, or simply more constant, full-time work in their locations. This, then, increased homeownership.
Redlining, OTOH, is a pure creation by Democrats. Redlining means loaning to a broad category of people (of "color" or of low income levels, bad credit history, etc,) and giving them a "preferential" loan. This latter is what has wrought this current economic mortgage crisis.
When the President said this thing in his SOU address, I and my household were on our feet applauding. Not because he said "minorities were owning homes" but rather because when good people are of solid character and buying their homes, this brings about the boon, if not birth, of a microeconomy in their location. And if the city/town fathers of that area invest revenues properly, this means that even newer jobs are created. In small towns across America, this also means that those with disabilities can work too!
If those on various welfarian rolls are able to work, to actually have a paying job, this decreases the monies used up in transportation, health, food, housing, etc., and alleviates the burden on the American Taxpayer. I include also those who are retired, but barely eking it out on their social security. They too can have part-time jobs which supplement their incomes, which of course reduces the taxpayer burdens for various supplemental programs.
Homeownership is a GOOD thing. When people have an investment in their home, care about their neighborhoods, the opportunities for slime to enter is vastly reduced.
One of the greatest ways to cut down crime in an area is truly, home ownership.
What the dems did with Redlining - giving loans to people who'd never be able to repay, had bad money histories, etc., was a ripoff of anyone who'd invested in the companies MAKING those loans.
Usually, businesses making a profit tend to reinvest, either in their own companies or in other companies. And in so doing, grow micro-economies. This is how wealth and prosperity grows.
What the CEOs of Fran/Fred did was steal the profits and invest it principally in themselves, and their candidate of "choice", Barack Obama. And now, they plan Scam II, and why they are desperate for Obama to win.
I've already, many years ago, in San Francisco, early 90s, seen what happens, now.
Those properties foreclosed on, either get declared this that or the other, and auctioned off for mere dollars.
I cannot immediately recall the Dem's name in SF; but SF had a "housing crisis" similar to the one we have now, brought on by the same damned regulations. Sure enough, this Dem bought these "slums" for a mere dollar, had them declared "federal disasters, and used Federal dollars to repair these homes. Once these edifices were totally fixed up? The Dem put these houses on the market for sale at top dollar. He got all the profits, which ran to about 90% of total value, when he'd only paid mere dollars for the property to begin with.
And he wasn't the only Dem who did this.