Considering the undeniably extreme liberal record that Barack Obama has, the well established pattern of chosen radical associates and the obvious need for any politician to court moderates in a general election, why run for President now, rather tha…..

In the beginning, there was “Affirmative Action lending,” and Bill Clinton and Andrew Cuomo saw what it was, said what it was, and it was very, very bad:     Notice Barry O’s cameo appearance as an ACORN capo against Citibank?…

To continue with my point, if there were no institutions willing to buy these toxic mortgages, there never would have been a market for more of them.
To be sure, Fannie and Freddie were the major player in creating these bad loans. Or more accurately, buying them.
But if there wasn’t a willingness by other financial institutions to purchase the bad debts, it would have been limited (for the most part) to just F&F.
SteveMG on October 12, 2008 at 12:34 PM

Because other financial institutions purchased the bad debts, which increased their share prices initially, investors in F&F pressured them to do the same. The investors in F&F wanted the same returns the other financial were raking in at the time.

Some background and info for others here. >

Credit Derivatives Comprise $54.6 Trillion Of Risk Among Few Banks Left Standing

The right blames the credit crisis on poor minority homeowners. This is not merely offensive, but entirely wrong.

How Some Arcane Wall Street Financial Instruments Magnified Economic Crisis

It’s a gross simplification to blame this problem on affirmative action-driven lending practices (Rushspeak for blacks). There was a recent report in Ohio that indicated the bulk of their losses were from real estate investment and speculation. How many poor people do you know who flip houses or trade REITs as a sideline business?

I’m not sure it’s gross simplification. The purists (smrgolspeak for affirmative action folk) wanted anyone to be able to afford a home with 0% down and no credit check, thinking that this would right the housing inequities (smrgolspeak for low black homeownership) inherent in the market. You get this from watching Maxine Waters or Andrew Cuomo talk about what they accomplished. They knew that a higher percentage of these loans would fail.

Now, look at what Countrywide did — managed to cut a deal with Freddie to have Freddie take 100% of their “subprime” loans. What did Freddie get in return? Some sweet rates for their officers. Was Countrywide in violation of the law, or just enthusiastic about carrying out the mandates of the CRA?

The house flippers are certainly in the equation. I think the SNL skit sums up most of the players in the housing market debacle nicely — the unqualified borrowers, the house flippers, the lenders, the vulture — er, venture — capitalists. The ones they miss are the Maxine Waters’, Andrew Cuomos and Barack Obamas — government intervention and collusion with that intervention by groups like ACORN (which bankrolled Attorney Obama’s lawsuit against Citibank, for instance).

Any responses?

AJB on October 12, 2008 at 1:37 PM

my response: not just a troll, but a STUPID troll

Remember when John McCain tried to blame SEC Chairman Chris Cox for the mortgage meltdown? And remember that McCain wanted replace Cox with . . . Andrew Cuomo? That’s not the kind of change I can believe in!…

Perspectives ranging from the Sierra foothills to Washington, DC social engineering as well as a clear-eyed view from Australia.

…

This had nothing to do with good intentions and everything to do with gaining ever more power and government control. The Democrats knew exactly where this practice would lead and bankruptcy of the financial establishments was the goal. The goal was accomplished, I’m surprised the Democrats are able to hide their glee being that it worked so well.

Note the guy at the end who doesn’t think much of the lenders or his greedy neighbors. He didn’t think of himself as a victim and now he’s fine. Oh, except for bailing out his neighbors, like we will be doing.

Cuomo’s Folly

I wonder if he’s relying on politicians or financial professionals to help him figure out what to do with his money.

sanguine4 on October 12, 2008 at 3:38 PM

Yeah, it wasn’t just poor people buying houses they vouldn’t afford, it was also middle class and higher folks who were over-extending themselves and buying houses they shouldn’t have. House flippers too. And probably many others.

But what they all had in common was that they were borrowing irresponsibly, and lenders were lending irresponsibly, and apparently Fannie was bundling it all up into big piles of crap.

This was all made possible by a distorted market created by the government pushing and supporting reckless lending.

What caused the collapse of Freddie Mae

Sorry, Fannie Mae.

Freddie’s the other guy.

It’s a gross simplification to blame this problem on affirmative action-driven lending practices

Question: What caused the collapse of Freddie Mae?

Fact: Of the $3 trillion home mortages sold during the period in question, over $1 trillion of that was held by Freddie Mae.

IOW, Freddie was the big boy on the block.

To be sure, lots of other factors (as I understand it) contributed to this. Central bank monetary policies, Chinese dollars, risky and bizarre lending practices (CDS, et etera).