IBD: Carter More to Blame for Financial Crisis Than Bush or McCain

What a shirt-sighted comment that is, of course the CRA is a MAJOR reason why banks got into the sub prime market in the first place. It has nothing to do with race at all. It has to do with focusing loans on people who could not otherwise get them. Thats why Bill Clinton actually strengthened it it 1995. Okay you want to blame it on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. of 1999, another Law Bill Clinton signed into law as I noted above. When someone points out the CRA is responsible for the subprime problem, it is not a racist issue at all, they are reading the law as written and I suggest you do the same.

he Community Reinvestment Act (or CRA, Pub.L. 95-128, title VIII, 91 Stat. 1147, 12 U.S.C. § 2901 et seq.) is a United States federal law that requires banks and thrifts to offer credit throughout their entire market area and prohibits them from targeting only wealthier neighborhoods with their services, a practice known as "redlining."

The CRA mandates that each banking institution be evaluated to determine if it has met the credit needs of its entire community.

In 1995, as a result of interest from President Bill Clinton's administration, the implementing regulations for the CRA were strengthened by focusing the financial regulators' attention on institutions' performance in helping to meet community credit needs. These revisions[1] with an effective starting date of January 31, 1995 were credited with substantially increasing the number and aggregate amount of loans to small businesses and to low- and moderate-income borrowers for home loans. These changes were very controversial and as a result, the regulators agreed to revisit the rule after it had been fully implemented for seven years. Thus in 2002, the regulators opened up the regulation for review and potential revision.

n 2003, the Bush Administration recommended what the NY Times called "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." [5] This change was to move governmental supervision of two of the primary agents guaranteeing subprime loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under a new agency created within the Department of the Treasury. However, it did not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enabled them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. The changes were generally opposed along Party lines and eventually failed to happen. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) claimed of the thrifts "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing." Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) added "I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing."[6]

You may want to revisit the CRA again before you start making the racist claim.
 
Snip:

Much as Bush-hating media members conveniently ignore historical events that led to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, their current finger-pointing at the White House, John McCain, and all Republican politicians for the collapse of the financial services industry lacks any honest assessment of decades-old legislation that laid the groundwork for today's problems.

In particular, 1977's Community Reinvestment Act which required banks and savings institutions to make loans to the lower-income areas in the communities they served.

Snip:

To hear today's Democrats, you'd think all this started in the last couple years. But the crisis began much earlier. The Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers, mostly in minority areas.
Age-old standards of banking prudence got thrown out the window. In their place came harsh new regulations requiring banks not only to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers, but to do so on the basis of race.

These well-intended rules were supercharged in the early 1990s by President Clinton. Despite warnings from GOP members of Congress in 1992, Clinton pushed extensive changes to the rules requiring lenders to make questionable loans. [...]
Failure to comply meant your bank might not be allowed to expand lending, add new branches or merge with other companies. Banks were given a so-called "CRA rating" that graded how diverse their lending portfolio was. [...]

IBD: Carter More to Blame for Financial Crisis Than Bush or McCain | NewsBusters.org

I'm not sure I'm reading this right... you're blaming an adminstration that hasn't been in power since 1980? seriously?

and where is the responisbility for the deregulation that the Republicans pushed through at the end of the Clinton administration?

I love how some Cons want to give the credit for the good economy in the 90s, saying they controlled Congress and therefore it was THEIR actions which led to the healthy growth but in the same breath they want to blame the Dems for this new crisis forgetting that that same Republican congress was in power giving tax breaks to the rich, pushing through deregulation, undoing all the safety nets FDR had in place following the depression, etc.

I mean I get it... you want all the good but none of the bad. :cuckoo:
 
right.. GOP warned Clinton 1992...ignored,nothing happened.

President Bush warned Congress 2003...Congress ignored him.

McCain warned Congress again 2005,2006....Congress ignored him..


Meanwhile

Chris Dodd
Barack Obama
John Kerry

Collected tons of cash.

WHAT A CROCK Shadow....the bill WAS REVISED in 1995 under clinton...and 2002 under bush....sheesh, the crap you're peddling has got to be covering your head at this point....

what in this 1977 ACT encouraged the fraud and risk the financial institutions took the past 8 years to CAUSE the mess we are in? NOTHING....

but the deregulation of the gramm leach biley amendment in 2000 ALLOWED the fraud the banks perpitrated on us, the tax payers....and it allowed the financial institutions to put greed ahead of their fidutiary responsibilities.

care
 
WHAT A CROCK Shadow....the bill WAS REVISED in 1995 under clinton...and 2002 under bush....sheesh, the crap you're peddling has got to be covering your head at this point....

what in this 1977 ACT encouraged the fraud and risk the financial institutions took the past 8 years to CAUSE the mess we are in? NOTHING....

but the deregulation of the gramm leach biley amendment in 2000 ALLOWED the fraud the banks perpitrated on us, the tax payers....and it allowed the financial institutions to put greed ahead of their fidutiary responsibilities.

care

That's because, democrats refuse to read the Acts and take on faith the "talking points" that they get from their own party. I've given you both, the difference between the two laws. one was banking deregulation signed by Bill Clinton, Gramm Leach Bailey. Who , I've said at the signing praised both democrats and republicans for working together to craft the legislation he signed. Second, the revised version of the CRA was also signed by Bill Clinton. to say this crisis is only 8 years in the making is laughable. So let's take your argument,

Over 30 years ago, Angelo Mozilo and David Loeb founded a company with a name that embodied their lofty goals and illustrated their aggressive vision - Countrywide. countrywide.com

n June 2008 Conde Nast Portfolio reported that several influential lawmakers and politicians, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, and Fannie Mae former-CEO Jim Johnson, received favorable mortgage financing from Countrywide by virtue of being "Friends of Angelo."[9][10] Senator Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide at allegedly below-market rates on his Washington, D.C. and Connecticut homes.[9]

n 1969 he and his former mentor David S. Loeb, who had already started a mortgage lending company, founded Countrywide Credit Industries in New York. They later moved the headquarters to Calabasas, California in Los Angeles County. Mozilo and Loeb also cofounded IndyMac Bank, which was founded as Countrywide Mortgage Investment, before being spun off as an independent bank in 1997. IndyMac collapsed and was seized by federal regulators on July 11, 2008.[2]

Angelo Mozilo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

n 1995, as a result of interest from President Bill Clinton's administration, the implementing regulations for the CRA were strengthened by focusing the financial regulators' attention on institutions' performance in helping to meet community credit needs. These revisions[1] with an effective starting date of January 31, 1995 were credited with substantially increasing the number and aggregate amount of loans to small businesses and to low- and moderate-income borrowers for home loans. These changes were very controversial and as a result, the regulators agreed to revisit the rule after it had been fully implemented for seven years. Thus in 2002, the regulators opened up the regulation for review and potential revision.[citation needed]

Part of the increase in home loans was due to increased efficiency and the genesis of lenders, like Countrywide, that do not mitigate loan risk with savings deposits as do traditional banks using the new subprime authorization. This is known as the secondary market for mortgage loans. The revisions allowed the securitization of CRA loans containing subprime mortgages. The first public securitization of CRA loans started in 1997 by Bear Stearns. [2] The number of CRA mortgage loans increased by 39 percent between 1993 and 1998, while other loans increased by only 17 percent. [3] [4]

Community Reinvestment Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Funny how that math does not add up to 8 years, however, when your trying to get Obama elected, I suppose it's all part of that change message. Like change you can believe in. Want me to continue? I'd be happy to keep pointing out to you that the argument that you keep making about this being a problem that is only a result of one Act. in the last 8 years is a completly false.
 
That's because, democrats refuse to read the Acts and take on faith the "talking points" that they get from their own party. I've given you both, the difference between the two laws. one was banking deregulation signed by Bill Clinton, Gramm Leach Bailey. Who , I've said at the signing praised both democrats and republicans for working together to craft the legislation he signed. Second, the revised version of the CRA was also signed by Bill Clinton. to say this crisis is only 8 years in the making is laughable. So let's take your argument,

Over 30 years ago, Angelo Mozilo and David Loeb founded a company with a name that embodied their lofty goals and illustrated their aggressive vision - Countrywide. countrywide.com

n June 2008 Conde Nast Portfolio reported that several influential lawmakers and politicians, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, and Fannie Mae former-CEO Jim Johnson, received favorable mortgage financing from Countrywide by virtue of being "Friends of Angelo."[9][10] Senator Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide at allegedly below-market rates on his Washington, D.C. and Connecticut homes.[9]

n 1969 he and his former mentor David S. Loeb, who had already started a mortgage lending company, founded Countrywide Credit Industries in New York. They later moved the headquarters to Calabasas, California in Los Angeles County. Mozilo and Loeb also cofounded IndyMac Bank, which was founded as Countrywide Mortgage Investment, before being spun off as an independent bank in 1997. IndyMac collapsed and was seized by federal regulators on July 11, 2008.[2]

Angelo Mozilo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

n 1995, as a result of interest from President Bill Clinton's administration, the implementing regulations for the CRA were strengthened by focusing the financial regulators' attention on institutions' performance in helping to meet community credit needs. These revisions[1] with an effective starting date of January 31, 1995 were credited with substantially increasing the number and aggregate amount of loans to small businesses and to low- and moderate-income borrowers for home loans. These changes were very controversial and as a result, the regulators agreed to revisit the rule after it had been fully implemented for seven years. Thus in 2002, the regulators opened up the regulation for review and potential revision.[citation needed]

Part of the increase in home loans was due to increased efficiency and the genesis of lenders, like Countrywide, that do not mitigate loan risk with savings deposits as do traditional banks using the new subprime authorization. This is known as the secondary market for mortgage loans. The revisions allowed the securitization of CRA loans containing subprime mortgages. The first public securitization of CRA loans started in 1997 by Bear Stearns. [2] The number of CRA mortgage loans increased by 39 percent between 1993 and 1998, while other loans increased by only 17 percent. [3] [4]

Community Reinvestment Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Funny how that math does not add up to 8 years, however, when your trying to get Obama elected, I suppose it's all part of that change message. Like change you can believe in. Want me to continue? I'd be happy to keep pointing out to you that the argument that you keep making about this being a problem that is only a result of one Act. in the last 8 years is a completly false.

navy, the gramm, leach, biley amendment was inserted in to the republican's MUST PASS omni bus, appropriations bill....by these republicans...a fricking appropriations bill that was VETO PROOF....clinton had no choice but to sign it....i don't know that he was against it or for it, i do know all dems in the senate were against it...

ALL DEMS in the senate voted NO, on the gramm/biley amendment added to this appropriations bill...ALL OF THEM voted NO, however the republican party won this vote on PARTY LINES....56 repubs saying yes to this haphazard deregulation and 44 dems voting against it....?

why try to blame clinton for the repubs inserting this amendment in to a MUST PASS Appropriation bill that he could not make a veto stick on?
 
navy, the gramm, leach, biley amendment was inserted in to the republican's MUST PASS omni bus, appropriations bill....by these republicans...a fricking appropriations bill that was VETO PROOF....clinton had no choice but to sign it....i don't know that he was against it or for it, i do know all dems in the senate were against it...

ALL DEMS in the senate voted NO, on the gramm/biley amendment added to this appropriations bill...ALL OF THEM voted NO, however the republican party won this vote on PARTY LINES....56 repubs saying yes to this haphazard deregulation and 44 dems voting against it....?

why try to blame clinton for the repubs inserting this amendment in to a MUST PASS Appropriation bill that he could not make a veto stick on?

My point is Care4All your assertion that the Gramm bill is the SOLE reason for the subprime meltdown is completely false and shortsighted. The subprime market was actually growing very large in the mid-90's after the CRA revisions of 1995. Bill Clinton, signed the Gramm bill

Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. Democrats agreed to support the bill only after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act and address certain privacy concerns.[3] The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. Without forcing a veto vote, this bipartisan, veto proof legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.

Thus the reason why , Bill Clinton's statement. at the signing ceremony.
"This legislation is truly historic and it indicates what can happen when Republicans and Democrats work together in a spirit of genuine cooperation,"

So your assertion that this single bill is responsible for the current climate we find ourselves in is i'm sorry to say wrong. Ask yourself this, for a party that wants oversight on this why then are the democrats trying to pack this bailout with "pork" projects that have nothing to do with the bailout?
 
navy, the gramm, leach, biley amendment was inserted in to the republican's MUST PASS omni bus, appropriations bill....by these republicans...a fricking appropriations bill that was VETO PROOF....clinton had no choice but to sign it....i don't know that he was against it or for it, i do know all dems in the senate were against it...

ALL DEMS in the senate voted NO, on the gramm/biley amendment added to this appropriations bill...ALL OF THEM voted NO, however the republican party won this vote on PARTY LINES....56 repubs saying yes to this haphazard deregulation and 44 dems voting against it....?

why try to blame clinton for the repubs inserting this amendment in to a MUST PASS Appropriation bill that he could not make a veto stick on?

Nice investigative reporting there, Care.

The above is a perfect example of why most of the time, when someone reminds us who was PTUS when a bill was passed, or who controlled congress when a bill was passed, it is basically meaningless.

The DEVIL is in the details.

And in many cases the DETAILS of a bill MUST INCLUDE all the parlimentary antics which happened BEFORE the bill got signed.

Notice that this poison pill was foisted into a SPENDING BILL?

Why?

So that refusal to pass that bill could give the Republicans the opportunity to call the Democratic minority OBSTRUCTIONISTS who were SHUTTING DOWN THE NATION.

Now before you all think this is a slamat REPUBLICNS, bear in mind that I know perfectly well that the DEMS did this sort of nonsense, too.

The problem, the REAL PROBLEM stems from the fact that either party can play this poison pill amendment game.

The solution is to make it a rule of Congress that all amendments to all bills must be GERMANE to the primare purpose of the bill.

Why don't they do that?

Because both parties LIKE to be able to bury this sort of nonsense under tons of important national business.

Our Congress and the way it is currently set up is basically corrupt as hell.

Obviousl the majority in congress gets to use those dubious rules of conduct to their advantage, but the loser, no matter which party wins, is the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
 
My point is Care4All your assertion that the Gramm bill is the SOLE reason for the subprime meltdown is completely false and shortsighted. The subprime market was actually growing very large in the mid-90's after the CRA revisions of 1995. Bill Clinton, signed the Gramm bill

Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. Democrats agreed to support the bill only after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act and address certain privacy concerns.[3] The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. Without forcing a veto vote, this bipartisan, veto proof legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.

Thus the reason why , Bill Clinton's statement. at the signing ceremony.
"This legislation is truly historic and it indicates what can happen when Republicans and Democrats work together in a spirit of genuine cooperation,"

So your assertion that this single bill is responsible for the current climate we find ourselves in is i'm sorry to say wrong. Ask yourself this, for a party that wants oversight on this why then are the democrats trying to pack this bailout with "pork" projects that have nothing to do with the bailout?

again, the gramm AMENDMENT was inserted in to a MUST PASS appropriations omnibus bill and clinton COULD NOT VETO IT.....the congress had the override votes.

and I AM NOT SAYING that many things did not contribute to this mess...including cheap money for financial institutions to play with that greenspan gave them and deregulation that allowed gambling even Casinos would be proud of and not enough new regulation on fm/fm and other institutions....keeping up with the times...and even the Realtors and Assessors and those getting the mortgages...

care
 
the gram bill ALLOWED for the malfeasance to take place....it allowed the gambling, prior to this, it could not take place in the manner it did.
 
and so who did the malfeasing ?

the heads of the financial institutions took uncalled for risks and gambled with other people's money, the stock holder's money, while pocketing boo coos in their stock options....it was advantageous to their own pockets and to hell with their investors...
 
the heads of the financial institutions took uncalled for risks and gambled with other people's money, the stock holder's money, while pocketing boo coos in their stock options....it was advantageous to their own pockets and to hell with their investors...

Names please----including congressmen.
 
Names please----including congressmen.

i don't know the specific names of ALL the ceo's and as far as the gram leach biley amendment, all the 56 republican senators that voted YES on the gram amendment in 1999 that was slipped in to their appropriation bill, you can look them up!!!! you got fingers, no?:badgrin:
 
McCain's Economic Adviser is ex-Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors. And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $700 billion.
 
McCain's Economic Adviser is ex-Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors. And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $700 billion.

that's one reason--the other one is the nobody plugged the loophole. Please don't try to tell me no one knew about it.
 
i don't know the specific names of ALL the ceo's and as far as the gram leach biley amendment, all the 56 republican senators that voted YES on the gram amendment in 1999 that was slipped in to their appropriation bill, you can look them up!!!! you got fingers, no?:badgrin:

Surely the media would provide us the the names of the dirty scoundrels. They know everything.
 
Please call eots. Someone is running away with millions yet no one knows who. Odd.

very astute dillo, and you are right damnit!!!!!!!!

....we hear about ''the firms'' that are getting money from us, but what is the money really for or rather who really benefits from these bail outs with the actual money in hand?

the GAMBLERS that never put a penny out of their own money betting high or low, short or gain?

the every day STOCKHOLDERS?

the INSIDER STOCKHOLDERS?

the CEOS?

the FEDERAL RESERVE and BANKS WITHIN?

Who really gets the money, cash in hand? who are the ''players'' that we are handing our tax dollars to?

not some name of a corporation...but give me a body, a person and all the people that have enough PULL to truely swindle us, the way we've been swindled and who really are their PAWNS....the fed chairman, the secretary of the treasury, the head of the SEC, our congressmen, senators, the president?

what the heck is REALLY going on here, where a decision has to be made in a day.....?????? jimminee cricket!!! :eek:

somebody better slow this SPEEDING TRAIN, down....whoa nellie!!!

no joking on calling eots....this whole mess stinks to high heaven!

care
 

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