Free Republic

It has been fascinating to observe the reactions of anti-regulation zealots to the film "Inside Job." Many — including Paul Sperry in his Nov. 18 column on this page, "10 Reasons You Should Not Waste Your Money On Film 'Inside Job,'" — have resorted to constructing a sort of alternate economic history of the past 20 years. In this alternate history, the culprit behind the subprime mortgage meltdown and ensuing economic crisis wasn't deregulated investment banks or speculators taking absurd risks. Instead, it was the poor, aided and abetted by advocates like us at the Greenlining Institute who worked to...

Fannie, Freddie say mortgage servicers triggered foreclosure crisisBy Zachary A. Goldfarb Posted at 12:27 PM ET, 12/ 1/2010 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac defended their role in the foreclosure crisis in prepared testimony to Congress on Wednesday, while at least one federal regulator said the mortgage giants had contributed to the problem. Speaking to the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing on the national foreclosure debacle, Fannie and Freddie executives emphasized that they are not responsible for managing payments by borrowers on home loans or foreclosing on homeowners when they default. These tasks, executives say, are the responsibility of mortgage...

'Inside Job" bills itself as "the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis." It exposes whoremongering Wall Street traders, economic consultants who lie on their resumes and Hank Paulson's conflicts. But it doesn't answer what caused the crisis. Of course, it thinks it does. "This is how it happened," the film confidently tells viewers before taking them, oddly enough, all the way back to the 1980s. Why then? Because the Reagan administration — "supported by economists and financial lobbyists" — started a 30-year regulatory vacation that fomented unparalleled "greed and immorality" on Wall Street. "Progressive deregulation...