On 8/17/2012 2:08 PM, George Plimpton wrote:
On 8/17/2012 1:56 PM, Hawke wrote:
On 8/16/2012 5:38 PM, George Plimpton wrote:
On 8/16/2012 5:27 PM, wrote:


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How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis: Kevin Hassett

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The financial crisis of the past year has
provided a number of surprising twists and turns, and from Bear Stearns
Cos. to American International Group Inc., ambiguity has been a big part
of the story.

Why did Bear Stearns fail, and how does that relate to AIG? It all seems
so complex.

But really, it isn't. Enough cards on this table have been turned over
that the story is now clear. The economic history books will describe
this episode in simple and understandable terms: Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac exploded, and many bystanders were injured in the blast, some
fatally.

Fannie and Freddie did this by becoming a key enabler of the mortgage
crisis. They fueled Wall Street's efforts to securitize subprime loans
by becoming the primary customer of all AAA-rated subprime-mortgage
pools. In addition, they held an enormous portfolio of mortgages
themselves.

In the times that Fannie and Freddie couldn't make the market, they
became the market. Over the years, it added up to an enormous
obligation. As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed more than
$388 billion in high-risk mortgage investments. Their large presence
created an environment within which even mortgage-backed securities
assembled by others could find a ready home.

The problem was that the trillions of dollars in play were only low-risk
investments if real estate prices continued to rise. Once they began to
fall, the entire house of cards came down with them.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aSKSoiNbnQY0


*ALL* caused by the Democrats: CRA and the Clinton gutting of
underwriting standards at the GSEs.



Oh, so now I see where you get all this right wing claptrap from. Your
source is the director of policy studies at the American Enterprise
Institute

Solid stuff.



Every right wing extremist thinks so. But to the rest of the world it is
about as believable as the "experts" who say there wasn't really a
Holocaust. Kook stuff is what everyone else thinks. No wonder you went
for it.

Hawke