[Woebama]

The Fed kept interest rates low throughout the housing bubble. Without that policy, the bubble wouldn’t have happened at all and the banks would not be at risk because of the collapse in the housing market.

[JasonC]

False. They raised rates about 20 times to over 5%, breaking the bubble. They held the growth of M1 to *zero* for 3 straight years, from the spring of 2005 to the spring of 2008. That is the only monetary measure the Fed directly controls by the size of its own balance sheet. Banks can freely extend broader money measures on their own, without any by-your-leave from the Fed.

And they did, while it was tightening and telling them not to and preventing any growth of narrow money. Their boneheaded action in fighting the Fed instead of following it, made the last 2 years of the bubbles and made the smash worse. But was quite entirely their own doing. They could have tightened up themselves in 2005 or 6.

The Fed perhaps left short rates too low for about one year, and it forecast its rate increases to an exceptional degree, to avoid catching the private sector off guard. That gave everyone plenty of time to adjust to coming higher rates. They used it to gamble recklessly instead.

The Fed is not omnipotent. It is not the only actor in the system. Fed haters always pretend that it can't do anything right and that everything that occurs is its doing. It is slander and nonsense, start to finish.