Barney Frank -- The Media & The Housing Bubble

[Procrustes Stretched]

First question: Who was in power in the US House of Representatives during the housing bubble? Let us pick the years of, say---1995-2007.

Second question: Who touted the "Ownership society" as a solution for American families?


Third Question: Who is Bob Bennett and what does he have to do with Freddie and Fannie?

---

If you listen to, watch, read, follow media you know there is much talk about the housing bubble and who is to blame. We even have a few --ahem-- experts here who lay blame.

The media reports spin on this and part of the media has even invented spin on this.

Can you answer the three question without using a search engine or asking others?

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Obama “underestimates the importance of confronting ideological differences,” Barney Frank says.

Read more: Barney Frank gets some real power : The New Yorker

Limbaugh falsely asserted "Banking Queen" Barney Frank "created" subprime mortgage crisis

Barney Frank: I Didn't Cause The Housing Bubble

Ownership society - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the ‘Ownership Society’

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Sen. Bob Bennett

I don't expect certain people here to bother to follow the links and read anything. I know for many it's all about hysteria, attacks and gotcha. Not too many smaht people here. There are some, maybe more than some other sites, but let's face it---trolls and those lacking critical thinking skill sets rule the internet(s).

I do hope some people who are looking for a truthful examination will see that the links I provided are from different sites with differing outlooks.

The right wing media has sung the song too long (Barney Frank single-handedly caused the housing bubble), and there are those who will be stuck on stupid here---but there are facts and leads to follow that throw that spin and invention into the toilet where it belongs.


links: clubforgrowth.org - newsweek.com - businessinsider.com - newyorker.com - mediamatters.org - bennett.senate.gov/public/

 

[waltky]

More like whack-a-mole...

Housing Bubble Bursts, But Not Everywhere
March 26, 2011 — Back in the heady days of housing bubble excess, stubborn renters who refused to buy until prices dropped had to face down certified experts who insisted, “15% annual gains in housing costs are economically sustainable, not bubbly at all. Buy now or be priced out forever!”

Today, in hindsight, experts agree the last decade’s enormous rise in housing prices was a bubble after all; now, instead of “is or isn’t there a housing bubble?” the new debate is, “Has the bubble finished deflating?” Search online for the phrase “home prices have stopped falling” and you’ll find people saying calling an end to the trend as far back as summer 2008, through 2009, and through 2010 as well. Now, early in 2011, the great debate revolves around whether or not housing will “recover” (read: rise in price).

I optimistically expect the market will make a full recovery in time – but then, as one of the stubborn renters who sat the bubble out, I define “housing market recovery” as “prices drop back to where I can comfortably afford one.” To determine whether I can, I still rely on the old pre-bubble conventional wisdom: “Save 20% down, and you can afford a mortgage loan equal to three years’ salary.” That kept me out of trouble around 2005: regardless of how low interest rates dropped, there was no way I was going to borrow five or six years’ pre-tax pay for a starter home.

Walter Molony, the senior public affairs specialist for the National Association of Realtors, said “In the 1970s, buyers would spend two-and-a-half to three times their [annual] income … during the boom, maybe six times income.”

MORE