1999 NY Times Article Revealed True Cause of Current Fannie Mae Crises

NewsBusters ^ | September 25, 2008 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

This is probably an article that the New York Times wishes it didn't have in its archives because it reveals the true culprits behind the current Fannie Mae meltdown. You will find "uncomfortable" truths in this September 30, 1999 article by Steven A. Holmes starting with the title, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending," that you won't find in current editions of the New York Times (emphasis mine):

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

[PJ-Comix]

Any chance that the NY Times will reprint its own article so their readers can see the true cause of the mortgage loan crises? That possibility is probably somewhere between nil and none.

[PJ-Comix]

PING!

[anonsquared]

Rush had a clip of Clinton today in which he claims that he was trying to rein in Fan and Fred.

[SJSAMPLE]

I see a retraction in the NYT’s very-near future.

[screaminsunshine]

Actually the New York Times is to blame.

[hoe_cake]

GOTCHA!

Thanks for the research.

[rockinqsranch]

Related is this 1993 article by Robert Stowe England from the National Review:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n25_v45/ai_14779796

I’m certain some folks are sick of me posting this, but the publication date and the content, as well reading this while also remembering the Democrat CRA legislation of 1977 signed by Jimmy Carter, and how that came about over much protest from Economists, Republicans, etc. are important to this discussion.

[gwilhelm56]

**I see a retraction in the NYT’s very-near future.**

YES .. it will be in the edition of APRIL 1, 2317

[rockinqsranch]

Yes. Clinton is such a LIAR. The man was throwing gasoline on the fire. He wasn’t even trying to help put the fire out.

[AlexW]

Great post.
I love it when the light is shined on roaches and RAT with a “D”.

[r-q-tek86]

ping

[brytlea]

Well, I guess he planned on roasting marshmallows.
susie

[KSCITYBOY]

btt

[Palladin]

The best explanation of this Fannie Mae crisis I have ever seen was on a couple of episodes of “The Sopranos”. Tony has a Newark city councilman in his pocket. He decides to buy at bargain basement prices a row of dilapidated homes, and sell them to an intermediary—something like “Homes for the Underserved”—run by a black COMMUNITY ACTIVIST.

Soprano gets a doctor friend with good credit to use as his frontman/buyer. Through much finagling, the houses are turned over to the Community Activist and with the help of the City Councilman, they are sold to un-creditworthy minorities for 3 times their value —loans guaranteed by the Federal program—and the profit all goes back to Tony and the Mob. Minus 5% to the councilman; 5% to the doctor/frontman; and 5% to the “Community Activist”.

The one who gets roughed up the most is the appraiser—a geeky guy who doesn’t want to over-appraise the houses until Tony’s boys beat the **** out of him.

Multiply this by Mob+FannieMae+corrupt-local-pols+Community Activist crooks in hundreds of cities across the nation and VOILA!!! The Fannie/Freddie crisis.

Just fiction? I think NOT!!!

[RaceBannon]

great bump~

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

There was an even earlier article from 1994 in which Janet Reno actually threatened those banks she believed were redlining.

Here it is:

Reno urges banks to market services to minority areas

Following a landmark lending discrimination settlement, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno recently issued a stern warning to all banks which practice red-lining--you're breaking the law and face possible litigation.

Reno's warning came on the heels of a recent settlement of an unprecedented lending-bias case against Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank, a suburban Washington, D.C., bank that was accused of bias in marketing services to predominantly Black and minority areas.

It was revealed that until recently, Chevy Chase had no branches located in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

As part of the settlement, Chevy Chase and its B.F. Saul Mortgage unit agreed to invest $11 million in neighborhoods that the Justice Department claims they refused to serve.

USA Today recently reported from 1976 to 1992 that Chevy Chase underwrote 97 percent of its loans in predominantly White areas.

The bank denied the charges of bias, but did agree to make $140 million in subsidized or below-marketrate mortgage loans to neighborhoods it is accused of discriminating against.

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder added the settlement is also unique because the cash will be funneled directly to the community rather than to the government.

"It provides hope that one day we can relegate red-lining...to the yellow pages of old history texts," Holder said in USA Today.

[PGalt]

Thank YOU!

I’ll NEVER get sick of you posting that VERY IMPORTANT link. Thank YOU!

Thank YOU!

[too much time]

Did you see Ann Coulter's headline, today? They Gave Your Mortgage to a Less Qualified Minority

[BenLurkin]

"I lied..! Ha ha! Again..."

[EEDUDE]

Giving home loans to people who cannot afford them does them no favor.

But it does make some people feel better about themselves.