Congressional Report Blames the Government for the Mortgage Crisis
A new congressional report was just released and in what should come as a surprise to no-one, the government was found to be at fault for the current mortgage crisis. Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae encouraged people who could not afford to buy homes to buy them anyway. This was done to be “fair” instead of only giving money to those that could afford it.
In the short run, this government intervention was successful in its stated goal – raising the national home ownership rate,” says the report, the result of an investigation launched last fall by Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“However, the ultimate effect was to create a mortgage tsunami that wrought devastation on the American people and economy,” says the report. “While government intervention was not the sole cause of the financial crisis, its role was significant and has received too little attention.”
The report goes on to blame the policies of both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Both of them are long gone so this post will not focus on either of them. There is still one prominent member of congress who played a big roll in this meltdown and that is where this post will focus.
Other than in the blogosphere, Barney Frank has managed to skate through this crisis without a scratch and he is one of the biggest reasons that we are in the crisis in the first place. It is believed that the mortgage meltdown caused the slowing down of the economy and the recession and the massive growth in the list of expert credit repair companies, Barney Frank played a huge roll in implementing the plans that have lead to this recession.
Barney Frank is a dangerous man, he fought against passing tougher restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he denied that there was a looming problem shortly before the meltdown began, and most recently we found out that he has not learned from his past mistakes. Just last month he asked both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to loosen up their lending restrictions that were imposed after the meltdown began:
The report comes after Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) – who fought against regulation of the two quasi-public mortgage giants — and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) wrote a letter in June to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac calling on the GSEs to lower lending standards on condo buyers
One of the biggest problems that led to the crisis was lending restrictions that were too low and now Barney Frank is advocating the same type of policy that got us into this mess in the first place.
Barney Frank got a free ride through all of this but it is obvious to me that he needs to step down as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee– for the good of the economy, and of the country.
America's Watchtower 
I too, think the government shares most of the blame for the housing collapse, also greedy loan brokers who doctored up their loan applications to get approval. Barney Frank is at it again as you righty point out—this guy is certainly one-of-kind. The kind we don’t need in government and yet he keeps getting re-elected. What does this say about some voters!!
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He hasn’t learned his lesson. has he?
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Funny, that this “new’ congressional report is something that more informed people have known about for a while. Who can forget that video floating around where the Dems circled the wagons while the likes of Franklin Raines and Rahm Emanuel burned the house down? (no pun intended). Unfortunately, if you ask the average American who Barney Frank is, they won’t be able to tell you. And I’m sure that’s the way he wants it.
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How much time and money did this report cost to tell us what we already knew?
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I find it interesting how a lone member of the (at the time) minority party gets most of the blame for the crisis. Somehow it is not the banks fault for offering liar loans or interest-only loans. Most of those loans from this crisis did not fall under the CRA. Of course, we all know that private industry is all-knowing and perfect. The truth is when the banks say jump, democrats and republicans alike ask how high.
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It is the fact that he is the most prominent one left and he happens to be on an important committee, yet he has excaped any blame whatsoever.
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I don’t think Frank has escaped blame. Talk radio likes reminding everyone of his involvement. My issue with the report is that it puts the blame squarely on the government and just the government. It down plays the role of liar loans and interest only loans; loans that were not subject to the CRA. As I’ve said when this first started, there is no shortage of blame to go around.
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The “short run”? WTF? There is no short run in owning a house and paying off a mortgage. Those two things are contradictory. For most people owning a home is a long term investment. To have tried, knowing, that it would only be successful in the “short run” was even more evil that just lending $$ to people who could not or would not pay it back. Here’s a good cliche for ya, Obama admin.,—- No free lunch.
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Term limits, please!
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