Comments on: False conservatives lie that Fannie and Freddie caused the subprime mortgage crisis

By: Gingrich lies to Congress about climate legislation | Scholars and Rogues

Gingrich lies to Congress about climate legislation | Scholars and Rogues — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:15:31 +0000

[...] is a lie that the GOP has stated repeatedly – and that S&R has exposed repeatedly. See the links for a more detailed deconstruction of the lie itself, but put simply, deregulation [...]

By: H.R. 5029 - Economic Freedom Act of 2010 - Page 8 - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:55:20 +0000

[...] About 80% of mortgages were sold to Fannie/Freddie, some held in portfolio and some securitized. Scholars and Rogues False conservatives lie that Fannie and Freddie caused the subprime mortgage cri… Quote: Federal Reserve Board data show that: More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in [...]

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:48:24 +0000

Try reading my comment #2 above.

By: BlackAvenger

BlackAvenger — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:45:18 +0000

Great pointless data! It might have been a better article if you had actually included support of your accusations. Yet another liberal attempt to blame the conservative party. And you wonder why you’re called the liberal media. What ever happened to truth in reporting?

By: David Coulter

David Coulter — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:23:03 +0000

misguided “Shills” of some media outlets advance the notion that the opposition partisan party was secretly in charge of the procedures resulting in the economic crisis. To the extent this is true it is an admission of incompetence by the “Scaspegoating” party in power.

By: David Coulter

David Coulter — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:10:48 +0000

Playing the “Race and/or ethnicity card” is, to me, a sure sign that scapegoating is sought.
Even the parties directly involved–including Gov. officials had not the slightest clue as to whether or when the “Bubble” would break. A random citizen, Race notwithstanding, who
no doubt thought the Bubble would not break for a while into the future did buy a more expensive dwelling than otherwise might be considered appropriate. This does not qualify any Race or Ethnic group for much beyond being a sort of normal U.S. citizen in topsyturvey economic times.

By: jeff

jeff — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:29:46 +0000

The irrationality of panics reward risk takers.

Jeff

By: IludiumPhosdex

IludiumPhosdex — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:11:15 +0000

Next thing you know, expect the Neocons/Fascisti to call for consumer lending to “Joe Sixpack” types to be based on the traditional Morris Plan, a/k/a “Credit Through Thrift.”

What about giving mutual self-help initiatives a fresh appraisal … or will that “lead to Communism”?

By: whythawk

whythawk — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:11:57 +0000

Brian, it’s going to be very difficult to find a single “culprit” in this mess. Fannie and Freddie are significantly large so, even though they’re not the largest, they certainly have a significant impact. The current thinking by economists is that the US government’s failure to bail AIG out caused massive knock-on effects as interbank lending fell apart – but that doesn’t mean that AIG is at fault either.

In the end, there has been widespread moral hazard of an equivalence to the dotcom disaster of eight years ago. Pundits genuinely believed that this was a “new” economy and that the old rules didn’t apply and that profits could only ever go up.

I remember columns here a year ago where people complained that property prices would keep going up and that no one would ever be able to afford to buy again. The existence of a contradiction of this magnitude implies a nasty bubble about to correct. The banks (both private and state guarantors) certainly facilitated the mess, but it couldn’t have happened without a large number of individuals who convinced themselves that the bills they incurred would never have to be paid.

By: Frank

Frank — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:15:09 +0000

The McClatchy article is misleading. It’s true that Fannie/Freddie didn’t originate a majority of loans or hold a majority of loans. But they GUARANTEED a huge number of loans that they didn’t own. The aggregate of loans loans they either owned or guaranteed was about half of all US mortgages.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:20:41 +0000

According to the article, the securities that Fannie and Freddie packaged up accounted for 30% of all mortgage securities. So at most they’re responsible for 30% of the problem. And when you compare the sizes of the bailouts, that also makes it clear that Fannie and Freddie aren’t the problem – out of a total $900 billion in bailouts for Fannie, Freddie, and private companies with mortgage-backed securities, only $200 billion is for Fannie and Freddie (about 22%). The rest, 78%, is for the private companies who are the root of the problem.

According to the article, and they make a very good case (that you really should read before commenting, BTW), the chief culprit is all the private companies that originated the loans. Regardless, however, the point is that the people who are blaming Fannie and Freddie, along with the CRA, entirely are either woefully misinformed, being manipulated by people with agendas, or are lying in an attempt to manipulate others.

By: Some Guy

Some Guy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:47:22 +0000

“More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.”

Those mortgages were then sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which packaged them up into the “mortgage based securities”, which they resold to wall street banks and foreign investors.

It’s clear that you’re out of your depth here. Fannie and Freddie aren’t loan originators, they are companies that provide a market for reselling mortgages.

The chief culprit here is of course the Federal Reserve, but trying to make Fannie and Freddie out to be innocent is utterly absurd.