fingerprints, footprints, stompings, drool and fat ass. On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 1:34 PM, d.b.baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > [Q] - 'THE PRIVATE SECTOR got us into this mess. The government has to > get us out of it." > > That's Barney Frank's story, and he's sticking to it. As the > Massachusetts Democrat has explained it in recent days, the current > financial crisis is the spawn of the free market run amok, with the > political class guilty only of failing to rein the capitalists in. The > Wall Street meltdown was caused by "bad decisions that were made by > people in the private sector," Frank said; the country is in dire > straits today "thanks to a conservative philosophy that says the > market knows best." And that philosophy goes "back to Ronald Reagan, > when at his inauguration he said, 'Government is not the answer to our > problems; government is the problem.' " > > In fact, that isn't what Reagan said. His actual words were: "In this > present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; > government is the problem." Were he president today, he would be > saying much the same thing. > > Because while the mortgage crisis convulsing Wall Street has its share > of private-sector culprits they weren't the ones who "got us into this > mess." Barney Frank's talking points notwithstanding, mortgage lenders > didn't wake up one fine day deciding to junk long-held standards of > creditworthiness in order to make ill-advised loans to unqualified > borrowers. It would be closer to the truth to say they woke up to find > the government twisting their arms and demanding that they do so - or > else. > > The roots of this crisis go back to the Carter administration. That > was when government officials, egged on by left-wing activists, began > accusing mortgage lenders of racism and "redlining" because urban > blacks were being denied mortgages at a higher rate than suburban > whites. > > The pressure to make more loans to minorities (read: to borrowers with > weak credit histories) became relentless. Congress passed the > Community Reinvestment Act, empowering regulators to punish banks that > failed to "meet the credit needs" of "low-income, minority, and > distressed neighborhoods." - > > http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco?mode=PF > > > -- *~@):~{> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
