“According to Sperry, Countrywide also had pressure put on them by HUD run by Andrew Cuomo at that time. Like the federally insured lending institutions, Countrywide also faced penalties by the government if they didn’t lower their standards.”
Ameriquest and Argent were the leaders that developed the subprime market, not Countrywide. They were pure mortgage lenders and not regulated by the CRA.
Countrywide was a follower in subprime lending, not a leader or innovator. And as long as they weren’t taking deposits they weren’t subject to the CRA.
“According to Sperry, Countrywide also had pressure put on them by HUD run by Andrew Cuomo at that time. “
Apparently you and Sperry like to pretend that Dubya wasn’t President for the eight years following Clinton. The eight year period that just happened to cover most of the bubble years.
Did Clinton and Cuomo possess magical powers that forced Bush to continue their policies? If these policies were so onerous why was Dubya powerless to change them?
The facts are that these policies, while bad in themselves, were not the driving force behind the subprime bubble. The problem was worldwide and involved trillions of dollars. There weren’t trillions of dollars of subprime loans made by regulated lenders.
Sperry gives Bush his share of blame for urging the lowering of standards for Hispanic borrowers. But he still puts the major share of the blame on the Clinton admin. Sperry’s conclusion is that pressure by the government on lending institutions to ease standards caused the disaster. And he states as far as the dollar amount of bad loans, the numbers were in the trillions. If you disagree, read Sperry’s book or contact him and argue it out with him.