ANN COULTER: THEY GAVE YOUR MORTGAGE TO A LESS QUALIFIED MINORITY

When in doubt, blame the poor.

Mickey Kaus (born July 6, 1951) is an American journalist and author best known for writing Kausfiles, a "mostly political" blog featured on Slate.com. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and had previously worked as a journalist for Newsweek, The New Republic and Washington Monthly. Kaus attended Harvard Law School but has never practiced law. He has a brother, Stephen Kaus, who is a lawyer and occasional commentator on The Huffington Post. Kaus currently resides in Venice Beach, CA.

Kaus has identified himself as neoliberal.

Mickey Kaus, Laurence O'Donnell and Michael Sonnenschein.

When in doubt, blame the poor.

Don't do that, it's not their fault. It's Clinton and the democrats that caused them to believe in castles in the sky.

Pawns, but willing ones.

Thanks for the ping. You’re right this IS a great article by Ann Coulter.

Threatening lawsuits, Clinton's Federal Reserve demanded that banks treat welfare payments and unemployment benefits as valid income sources to qualify for a mortgage. That isn't a joke -- it's a fact...
Wow... GREAT article by Ann Coulter.

Yes, amazing information.

The rest of her column with some highlighting by me:

...This crisis was caused by political correctness being forced on the mortgage lending industry in the Clinton era.

Before the Democrats' affirmative action lending policies became an embarrassment, the Los Angeles Times reported that, starting in 1992, a majority-Democratic Congress "mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers. Operating under that requirement, Fannie Mae, in particular, has been aggressive and creative in stimulating minority gains."

Under Clinton, the entire federal government put massive pressure on banks to grant more mortgages to the poor and minorities. Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew Cuomo, investigated Fannie Mae for racial discrimination and proposed that 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low- to moderate-income borrowers by the year 2001.

Instead of looking at "outdated criteria," such as the mortgage applicant's credit history and ability to make a down payment, banks were encouraged to consider nontraditional measures of credit-worthiness, such as having a good jump shot or having a missing child named "Caylee."

Threatening lawsuits, Clinton's Federal Reserve demanded that banks treat welfare payments and unemployment benefits as valid income sources to qualify for a mortgage. That isn't a joke -- it's a fact.

When Democrats controlled both the executive and legislative branches, political correctness was given a veto over sound business practices.

In 1999, liberals were bragging about extending affirmative action to the financial sector. Los Angeles Times reporter Ron Brownstein hailed the Clinton administration's affirmative action lending policies as one of the "hidden success stories" of the Clinton administration, saying that "black and Latino homeownership has surged to the highest level ever recorded."

Meanwhile, economists were screaming from the rooftops that the Democrats were forcing mortgage lenders to issue loans that would fail the moment the housing market slowed and deadbeat borrowers couldn't get out of their loans by selling their houses.

A decade later, the housing bubble burst and, as predicted, food-stamp-backed mortgages collapsed. Democrats set an affirmative action time-bomb and now it's gone off.

In Bush's first year in office, the White House chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, warned that the government's "implicit subsidy" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, combined with loans to unqualified borrowers, was creating a huge risk for the entire financial system.

Rep. Barney Frank denounced Mankiw, saying he had no "concern about housing." How dare you oppose suicidal loans to people who can't repay them! The New York Times reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "under heavy assault by the Republicans," but these entities still had "important political allies" in the Democrats.

Now, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, middle-class taxpayers are going to be forced to bail out the Democrats' two most important constituent groups: rich Wall Street bankers and welfare recipients.

Political correctness had already ruined education, sports, science and entertainment. But it took a Democratic president with a Democratic congress for political correctness to wreck the financial industry.

COPYRIGHT 2008 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111

I agree that democrats use the poor. I also think that rich republican politicians use poor conservatives to get votes. I’ve arrived at that conclusion because I’ve lived in predominantly democrat and minority areas and now I live in a working middle class white area, really white with lots of people Obama doesn’t like... religious folk with gun racks.

Instead of looking at "outdated criteria," such as the mortgage applicant's credit history and ability to make a down payment, banks were encouraged to consider nontraditional measures of credit-worthiness, such as having a good jump shot or having a missing child named "Caylee."

ROTFLMAO

Excellent post and it’s exactly what I have seen all around me. I don’t think it’s the poor doing this. I think it’s the people who wanted to pretend they were making 100k a year more than they were and trying to keep up with their neighbors.

Sad to say, you have to go to the female of the species to find a politician or a journalist with some balls.

Witness Ann and Gov. Palin.

Sad state of affairs we find ourselves in here in the USA.

Out

Thanks for the ping!

Excellent commentary and analysis on the current financial mess from the ever-astute Ann Coulter.

This article reminds me, once again, why Ann is hated and despised by the political left. She's smart, bold and always eager to rip the facade off the liberal Potemkin Village of 'compassion' that pretends to care so much about the middle class, at least during election campaigns. She seems to be right on, with documentation to prove her assertions. Liberal politicians with their 'a home for everyone' mindset instigated the mess, the banks went along with it and the Bush administration never saw fit to do anything serious to stop it, to be kind about it. Ann lays it out - and we gasp at the outright insanity of it all.

Folks, this financial mess we're faced with is the product of unfettered liberalism along with 'moderate' Republicans playing along because they half-believed that somehow, no one should be denied home ownership, no matter their position in life...that limiting home ownership (the ability to be granted a mortgage) was somehow 'unfair' or 'racist' or some such pap. Personal accountability disappeared from the formerly 'conservative' politician's perspective, replaced by socialist populist nonsense. They kidded themselves that this was being 'bi-partisan'. In fact, it was simply their abandonment of conservative principles dressed up as 'compassion'.

Well, we can (and will) carp all day long at the leftist Democrats and 'moderate' Republican politicians that helped make this financial mess but right now, something needs to be done. We can't just allow the mortgage, credit and stock markets to collapse and/or implode. That would be irresponsible. However, throwing 700 billion taxpayer dollars at the problem isn't the answer and it seems as if the American public knows that and is against the Democrat 'bailout' plan. Good. Let's hope the GOP plan is more responsible.

Right now, the Democrats are blaming the banks, 'greed', and, basically, the capitalist system. Some Republicans are joining them. Ann Coulter lays the blame where it belongs, but she will probably be ignored. I'm encouraged by the congressional Republicans finally showing some backbone and refusing the ridiculous Democrat plan to throw 700 billion at the problem. That John McCain is putting himself in the forefront of the refusal to abandon all sense of sanity is refreshing, too. That Obama is back campaigning is telling - if anyone bothers to notice. Remember, leftist Democrats like Obama always trill about 'caring' so much for 'the middle class'. Yeah, just before they tax them again and cry that they 'had' to do it.

I'm old enough to recall Bill Clinton's ephemeral 'middle class tax cut' that morphed into a steep, across-the-board tax hike, shortly after he assumed the presidency. I fully expect something similar from Obama, should the electorate lose it's collective mind and vote this Marxist America-hater into the Oval Office. God help us if that happens. The nation may never recover.

I only wish the GOP presidential candidate, John McCain, was even half as astute and fearless as Ann Coulter about exposing liberal nonsense and the grief it causes when put into law and/or practice. Perhaps the effervescent Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will do that in her debate with Joe 'foot-in-mouth' Biden, next week. One hopes.