Truth & Common Sense: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac collapse Democrats' fault

I'd like to call your attention to an excellent blog post pointing to a 2003 NY Times article.

According to the NY Times article, the Bush administration proposed new regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which would have tightened up loose lending, but Democrats opposed it because it would make it harder for poor people to own homes:

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''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 Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''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,'' Mr. Watt said.

That's rich. Liberal Democrat Barney Frank said that Fannie and Freddie "are not facing any kind of financial crisis." Had Democrats voted for this legislation, a financial crisis and expensive government bailout might have been averted.

Something to think about. Not only could this situation been averted if the Democrats in Congress had not been playing the race card, but now we the taxpayer have to foot the bill for their socialism. Dems argued that the poor trying to prove their income is "an invasion of privacy." Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were ordered to instruct the banks to accept this new policy or face legal reprisals. This is more than just greed on the part of the markets, it is pure fascist-socialism on the part of Nazi-like Democrats.

Walter