By: Les Dunaway
Today’s excellent Forbes article “Tim Geithner Covers for Corruption On Pennsylvania Avenue” by Charles Kadlec inspired me to dig into my pile of “Why the Crash?” writings. Mr Kradlec does an excellent job of summarizing the various crimes that led to the crash, so what I’ve collected here is, mostly, for detail and a clearer look at the perpetrators.
The top line summary of the whole mess is “That’s what happens when liberals meddle in the free market”; subtitle “That’s what happens when people who know better show no b…s!”.
“How ‘Failed Policies’ Of Democrats Were Responsible For Financial Crisis” from Start Thinking Right quotes the perpetrators and their media mouthpieces to document their guilt.
“The True Origins of This Financial Crisis” from the American Spectator in Feb 2009 gives a good “as the crime unfolded” look. Especially to the point is
THERE ARE TWO KEY EXAMPLES of this misguided government policy. One is the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The other is the affordable housing “mission” that the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were charged with fulfilling.
“McCain’s attempt to fix Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac in 2005” from Hot Air shows that some knew the problem and tried, weakly, to do something. There was a lot going on in 2005, too bad there wasn’t an understanding of how bad this problem was and is.
“ACORN: Part of Our Economic Downfall” – Why did no one ask: “If this is such a good thing, why are banks being Jessied to get them to cooperate?”.
In Forbes, Sol Stern takes another look at ACORN “Acorn: A Democratic Party Albatross” Let’s hope ACORN is the albatross he predicts.
In “Maxine, Barney, Fannie, Freddie & TARP Hanky-Panky” Michelle Malkin looks at another of the perpetrators and her continued perpetration {not sure that’s a word, but it should be;-}
On Reason.com, in “The Truth About Fannie and Freddie’s Role in the Housing Crisis“, Veronique de Rugy debunks some of the popular (with liberals) myths that have been spewed out since 2008.
Matt Kibbe, in a Forbes article “The Federal Reserve Deserves Blame For The Financial Crisis” lays out, in more detail, the Fed’s culpability which as been referenced in several of the above.
In “Blame The U.S. For The Housing Bubble, Not China” David Boaz responds to a miss-characterization of his position by Adam Davidson of the New York Times Magazine {whoda thunk it?}. I love this particular liberal attempt to dodge blame! It’s very like the drug addict who blames the pusher for his condition.
There’s lot’s more, but it all starts to run together. I will point to some previous articles here that are pertinent:
“The Undead – Acorn still walks” – If ACORN could be used as it was in the above, what might it be used for in the 2012 election?
“The Long Road Back” – Some closing thoughts about why we are still in the crash.
As I’ve said in previous articles, “Don’t bother talking about any of the above to your neighborhood liberal or your liberal in-law – it’s like trying to teach a pig to sing: it wastes your time and annoys the pig”. HOWEVER, do talk with your “independent” and “undecided” friends! Some of them have the mental capacity to understand what happened to our country and who was / is responsible. Some of them will join us in cleaning up the cause of the mess. Then we can begin the decades-long process of cleaning up the mess.