Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Folkie's Schadenfreude: Less Than Honest

Folkbum will need chiropractic treatment for his arm-patting-his-back syndrome, but taking the Associated Press as a purveyor of the truth, the whole, truth...(you know the rest) is always dangerous.

AP's version:

The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents

All that is true, and demonstrates that politicians are not necessarily interested in the National Interest. (doh!!!)

(As can be demonstrated by the REST of the story, highlighted by Ace, citing Bloomberg:)

In 2003, Bush's Treasury secretary, John Snow, proposed what the New York Times called "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." Did Democrats in Congress welcome it? Hardly.

"I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis," declared Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in a response typical of those who viewed Fannie and Freddie as a party patronage machine that the GOP was trying to dismantle. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," added Sen.
Thomas Carper, D-Del.

Frankly, there's manure enough to cover both parties, the Banks, the brokers, and the dumbass Wall Street wunderkindlein who never imagined that real-property values could ever decline.

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