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Barney Frank: The Community Reinvestment Act Was a ‘Republican Failure’
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE ^ | October 12, 2011 | Jim Geraghty

Posted on 10/12/2011 10:59:56 PM PDT by neverdem

In today’s Wall Street Journal:

Asked who was to blame for the 2008 financial crisis and whether any bankers should have been prosecuted, Mrs. Bachmann and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich put the onus on the federal government, with Mr. Gingrich suggesting that former Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, should both be jailed.

“It was the federal government that pushed the subprime loans . . . that pushed the community reinvestment act,” said Mrs. Bachmann, citing what she considered the causes of the housing meltdown.

Mr. Frank released an emailed statement in response: “In fact, Chris Dodd and I were in the minority from 1995 until 2006, so Gingrich is blaming us for Republican failures.”

So panicked is the response from Congressman “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing” Frank that he forgets that from May 2001 to the end of 2002, Democrats controlled the Senate and Dodd was the second-ranking Democrat on the committee after chairman Paul Sarbanes.

It is also revealing that Frank believes that Bush-administration assent to policies he supported means that the consequences of those policies are, ipso facto, “Republican failures.” As Peter Wallison lays out on the Journal’s op-ed page, you can blame Wall Street for reckless gambling on mortgage-backed securities all you want, but the risk of the mortgage-backed securities never takes off unless the federal government starts pushing lenders to lower their standards for worthy borrowers. Sure, the big-bank investors never should have gone dancing in the minefield, but the minefield was set up by federal policies that encouraged massive loans to “borrowers with blemished credit, or were loans with no or low down payments, no documentation, or required only interest payments.”

It is rather amazing that with laughably inaccurate defenses like this, Frank is still considered a significant voice in the Democratic party today.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: Georgia; US: Massachusetts; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: barneyfrank; bawney; bubble; cra; dodd; fannie; frank; georgia; housing; massachusetts; minnesota; subprimeloans; thegreatrecession; weeninvest
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To: neverdem
It is rather amazing that with laughably inaccurate defenses like this, Frank is still considered a significant voice in the Democratic party today.

Amazing? Typical is more like it.

41 posted on 10/13/2011 7:19:03 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: neverdem

Frankendodd the gift that will never go away.


42 posted on 10/13/2011 7:21:10 AM PDT by W. W. SMITH (Obama is an instrument of enslavement)
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To: All

Nothing new. Barney still likes Fannie.... and Freddie for that matter.


43 posted on 10/13/2011 7:24:19 AM PDT by newnhdad
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To: neverdem

Any politican involved in bringing down our economy through creating a banking system based on loan fraud, should be prosecuted - Republicans included.

The problem with Republicans like Newt is that he is too clever by half when going “bi-partisan.” The problem with democrats is that they are purely evil and committed traitors.


44 posted on 10/13/2011 7:29:38 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: FormerACLUmember
Right concept, wrong caricatures.
45 posted on 10/13/2011 7:34:11 AM PDT by Mr.Unique (Very generic, non-offensive, tagline.)
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To: neverdem

” - - - Mr. Gingrich suggesting that former Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, should both be jailed. - - - “

Newt is correct!

How long should Sub-Prime Barney have to spend in a US Federal Penal Institution? My thought is for the same length of time he has been an elected Congressman.

As for Chrissie Dodd? Shave him bald and let him and Madoff play Monopoly for the next 30 years. Both can then retire on Park Avenue!


46 posted on 10/13/2011 7:34:25 AM PDT by Graewoulf ( obama"care" violates the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND is illegal by the U.S. Constitution.)
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To: neverdem
Barney Frank: The Community Reinvestment Act Was a ‘Republican Failure’

Now that's rich.


Where there's a shell, there's a way.

If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.

Or you can get raw with these strings. Either way, the violin is sweet yet lethal.

Do it!

47 posted on 10/13/2011 7:41:28 AM PDT by rdb3 (The mouth is the exhaust pipe of the heart.)
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To: Graewoulf

Not sure if it can be proven,
but it’s a pretty sure thing that Barney personally enriched himself off the subprime banking fiasco.


48 posted on 10/13/2011 7:51:19 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: representativerepublic

In their book “Reckless Endangerment” the authors Morgenson and Rosner fingered ex-Fannie Mae head James Johnson as the biggest culprit. Raines continued the destruction when he succeeded Johnson.


49 posted on 10/13/2011 8:09:23 AM PDT by driftless2
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To: MrB

” - - - “Not sure if it can be proven,
but it’s a pretty sure thing that Barney personally enriched himself off the subprime banking fiasco. - - - “

Is there enough here for a House Ethics Committee Investigation? I “frankly” want to know!


50 posted on 10/13/2011 8:38:00 AM PDT by Graewoulf ( obama"care" violates the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND is illegal by the U.S. Constitution.)
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To: neverdem
Frank that he forgets that from May 2001 to the end of 2002, Democrats controlled the Senate

Bwaney Fwank and the SRM also seem to forget that the dims controlled the house the last two years of Bush's administration when they spent like drunk sailors. Bwaney has other things on his mind, and it involves something long and hard but is not a prison term.

51 posted on 10/13/2011 8:53:28 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Dear God, thanks for the rain, but please let it rain more in Texas. Amen.)
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To: ballplayer

**You think the news media could connect the Dots now that this was front and center of the Debates**


Do you really expect the SRM to tell the truth?

In a world with around 200 countries, we get this from the breathlessly excited ABC News anchor. Watch the video from this nitwit. Yep, Diane, the protests have spread to more than 1,000 countries. That means that more than 800 of those protests are on other planets. She has just proven we are not alone.

http://bigjournalism.com/pjsalvatore/2011/10/11/diane-sawyer-occupy-protests-in-more-than-1000-countries/


52 posted on 10/13/2011 8:59:25 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Dear God, thanks for the rain, but please let it rain more in Texas. Amen.)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

lending to poor=”pwedatory lending”
not lending to poor=”wedlining/wascist”


53 posted on 10/13/2011 9:00:24 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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To: neverdem

Ha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard Barney say,


54 posted on 10/13/2011 9:29:43 AM PDT by Crucial
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To: neverdem

Categorized | Breaking, Political NewsTags : ACORN, banks, barack obama, chicago, citibank, clinton, community reinvestment act, cra, credit history, economic crisis, fannie mae, freddie mac, lawsuit, loan applications, Madeline Talbott, minorities, mortgage, racism, refinance, scandal

UPDATED: Obama Sued Citibank Under CRA to Force it to Make Bad Loans
Posted on 03 October 2008

Do you remember how we told you that the Democrats and groups associated with them leaned on banks and even sued to get them to make bad loans under the Community Reinvestment Act which was a factor in causing the economic crisis (see HERE ) … well look at what some fellow bloggers have dug up while researching Obama’s legal career. Looks like a typical ACORN lawsuit to get banks to hand out bad loans.

In these lawsuits, ACORN makes a bogus claim of Redlining (denying poor people loans because of their ethnic heritage). They protest and get the local media to raise a big stink. This stink means that the bank faces thousands of people closing their accounts and get local politicians to lobby to stop the bank from doing some future business, expansions and mergers. If the bank goes to court, they will win, but the damage is already done because who is going to launch a big campaign to get the bank’s reputation back?

It is important to understand the nature of these lawsuits and what their purpose is. ACORN filed tons of these lawsuits and ALL of them allege racism.

Thanks to the IUSB Vision Weblog for providing additional details of this story.

We pulled the docket down, but here’s a brief for your summary:

Case Name
Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank Fair Housing/Lending/Insurance

Docket / Court 94 C 4094 ( N.D. Ill. ) FH-IL-0011
State/Territory Illinois

Case Summary

Plaintiffs filed their class action lawsuit on July 6, 1994, alleging that Citibank had engaged in redlining practices in the Chicago metropolitan area in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601-3619; the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant-bank rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with similar financial characteristics and credit histories. Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, actual damages, and punitive damages.

U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo certified the Plaintiffs’ suit as a class action on June 30, 1995. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 322 (N.D. Ill. 1995). Also on June 30, Judge Castillo granted Plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery of a sample of Defendant-bank’s loan application files. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 338 (N.D. Ill. 1995).

The parties voluntarily dismissed the case on May 12, 1998, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
Plaintiff’s Lawyers Alexis, Hilary I. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Childers, Michael Allen (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Clayton, Fay (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Cummings, Jeffrey Irvine (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Love, Sara Norris (Virginia)
FH-IL-0011-9000
Miner, Judson Hirsch (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-9000

Obama, Barack H. (Illinois) FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000

Wickert, John Henry (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-9000

UPDATE : Hotair.com comments on this story HERE .

New York Post Article HERE :

THE seeds of today’s financial meltdown lie in the Community Reinvestment Act – a law passed in [b]1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.[/b]

CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.

Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has complied with CRA – and approval can be held up by complaints filed by groups like ACORN.

In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America’s financial institutions .
The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the intimidation tactics used by ACORN’s Madeline Talbott in her pioneering efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts.

And, as the leader of another charity, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Obama channeled more funding Talbott’s way – ostensibly for education projects but surely supportive of ACORN’s overall efforts.


55 posted on 10/13/2011 10:25:05 AM PDT by phockthis
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To: WashingtonSource

I have that sticker on the back window of my car. I’ve gotten lots of comments/laughs.


56 posted on 10/13/2011 10:26:48 AM PDT by abigailsmybaby ("To understan' the livin', you gotta commune wit' da dead." Minerva)
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To: neverdem

Is this a “Don’t throw me into that briar patch” moment? Just think of the fun he’d have in prison.


57 posted on 10/13/2011 10:50:54 AM PDT by Inwoodian
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Barney Frank lies as the economy dies. Barney Frank shills as he the economy kills. Thanks neverdem.


58 posted on 10/14/2011 7:06:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: neverdem
A pervert gives a perverse explanation.
59 posted on 10/14/2011 7:08:47 PM PDT by Vision ("Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40)
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