Bush Not To Blame For Mortgage Crisis

Above, Rep. Maxine Waters, one of the real culpits of the mortgage crisis.

There are some idiots (mainly Democrats) who try to lay the blame over the current financial crisis on the lap of George W. Bush. (It bears repeating on who the real culprits are as some don't seem to be getting the message.)

The blame on Bush won't wash as it was Republicans who sounded the warning alarms that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were headed into dangerous waters.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and others (including Christopher Dodd's favorite, Countrywide), engaged in subprime mortgage lending so that opportunites for home-ownership low-income people would be created. The mandates that were implemented trace their origins to Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and Bill Clinton's ordering of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to enforce the CRA regulations. Banks were pushed to modify their lending qualifications and were underwriting loans to a whole range of unqualified buyers by 2006.

Republicans, including Sen. John McCain, raised concerns that government tinkering in the housing market could lead to problems.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank led the charge in defending Fannie and Freddie: "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. And even if there were a problem, the federal government does not bail them out."

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, backed Frank and said, "We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and particularly Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines." She also accused those raising concerns as being "racist" as Raines is black. Raines later directed millions of campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. There's an interesting video on YouTube with Frank and Waters attacking the whistle-blowers.

As Thomas Sowell wrote:

"Those who warned of the dangers had their warnings dismissed." One of those whose warnings were dismissed was our much-reviled, much-blamed, former president, George W. Bush. Bush warned of the problems brewing at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at least twice - first in his 2001 budget, and then again in 2003, when he warned that a meltdown by Fannie and/or Freddie could cause "systemic" problems in our financial system.

Who was it that dismissed those warnings? Democrats, including Maxine Waters, Barnie Frank and Chris Dodd, who demonized those giving the warnings as being against low-income housing, and worse!