Right wing bankster apologists Myth # 1
The community investment act
of 1977 was
over three decades old when the meltdown happened
Second, Clinton and Carter. Carter developed the Community Reinvestment Act and Clinton pushed in on the people. It forced banks to lend a certain amount of their portfolio to lower income people in order to get tax benefits and many other perks that would have kept them competitve.
Right wing bankster apologists Myth # 2 -
It demanded was that banks reinvest in the NEIGHBOHOODS where they did business.
It made NO provision about INCOME of borrowers
Third, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They created an artifical secondary market where lenders could write risky loans and sell them off instantly.
It created the ability for lenders to write blow up loans and sell them instantly without having to deal directly with the blow up.
It was NOT artifical, it was a very REAL secondary market.
But the complaint (that it decoupled RISK of bad loans from the lenders) certainly has
great merit
Fourth, the Wall Street Bankers and packaged toxic loans in CDOs and sold them as A+++ paper.
TRUE --what's more they lied to their clients about the risk involved.
Fifth, Bush Administration. Who did nothing in the face of such craziness, even though he was warned years back of a bubble growing.
I don't know if he was warned, but I agree that he did nothing.
Sixth, Real Estate Brokers. They pushed property onto to people who couldn't pay for them.
Sure they did. The use of the term" pushed" is a bit much, though.
Seventh mortgage brokers. Although they followed the lender guidelines, they stated income for people who didn't make that much more and got people in loans that made no sense to them!
Yes. But then what do you expect? They played by WHATEVER rules the LENDERS told them to play by.
Eight, Dodds, Frank and the other people who protected Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Sure looks that way to me, too
There were many culprits, but the lenders first and foremost wrote the loans!
YES!
AND, contrary to BANKSTERS' myths 1 and 2,
NOBODY made them do it, either.
They did it because they KNEW they would not be on the hook when the shit hit the fan