Posted on 09/12/2008 1:53:31 PM PDT by Carismar
There are as many starting points for the mortgage meltdown as there are fears about how far it has yet to go, but one decisive point of departure is the final years of the Clinton administration, when a kid from Queens without any real banking or real-estate experience was the only man in Washington with the power to regulate the giants of home finance, the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), better known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.
What he did is important—not just because of what it tells us about how we got in this hole, but because of what it says about New York's attorney general, who has been trying for months to don a white hat in the subprime scandal, pursuing cases against banks, appraisers, brokers, rating agencies, and multitrillion-dollar, quasi-public Fannie and Freddie.
(Excerpt) Read more at villagevoice.com ...
The Republicans were pushing for reform for more than 10 years, the Democrats resisted, and succeeded in making mortgages available to high-risk borrowers.
There's no equivalence here. The Democrats were pushing a political agenda that will end up costing the taxpayers trillions.
Once again, we see the results of governance by people without experience or the slightest clue about what they’re doing.
I am way past tired of the professional/hereditary political class f—king up everything they get their slimy, vote-buying hands on!
Say it LOUD. Say it often.
John McCain: “I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers,” McCain said. “Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.”
Ping for later review!
Ping for later review!
Say it to the loud and often to the leadership in Congress! Where are the hearings? Where are the investigations? Where are Barney Frank and Chris Dodd?
The Dems are in control and we know they never eat their own like the Pubbies do. They circle the wagons.
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