“...housing boom/bust that he continues to blame on the CRA.”
From what I have read, the CRA was a major contributing factor the housing boom/bust. For my continuing education, I would be interested in hearing your take on the cause(s)(there is never just one) of the housing boom/bust.
The CRA was a non-factor but it got talked up a lot because it fed into the “It’s the governments fault” narrative.
The money center banks devised a scheme where they could turn shit into gold using false credit agency ratings... they sold forward “investments” in us mortgage trusts ,, using investor money (never their own) to actually fund the loans (therefore they never owned the loans and the loans were invalid at inception because the true lender was not named in violation of TILA and all sorts of fraud statutes) the “trusts” themselves were never actually funded... they couldn’t be as the trusts never had any investor money to buy the notes, and therefore the chain of title was totally screwed! these “trusts” revenue streams were what was sold .. The banks insured the trusts and if they had a average interest rate on the notes that was above the rate promised the investors they oversold the bonds/shares .. if the trusts failed as the one my note was in did the bank gets paid off 100% and the homeowner/borrower gets nothing despite their note being paid in full. The investors get a song and dance about expenses related to foreclosure eating up their equity.. the banks win , everyone else loses,, and it was all made possible due to fraudulent AAA ratings from S&P , Moody’s etc. ... they approved anyone with a pulse even if they didn’t have a ssn for any amount of money for years .. they drove the bubble because they made more money when it crashed. Think of it like “The Producers” ,, the crash and burn of the middle class and the housing market gave the banks the cover they needed to steal it all. If you don’t believe me then open your eyes to all the investor lawsuits and the fines paid ,, now in the hundreds of billions.
This fraud set up the “bailout” in 2008 and the $80BILLION a month and 0% rates we still have ... The federal reserve takes care of it’s owners.