Two Federal Reserve economists examine whether available data support critics' claims that the Community Reinvestment Act spawned the subprime mortgage crisis.
(March 2009)
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Greenspan: Subprime loans did not cause financial crisis
Inquiry commission says former Fed chief ignored warnings about subprime
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Who Caused the Economic Crisis? October 1, 2008 MoveOn.org blames McCain advisers. He blames Obama and Democrats in Congress. Both are wrong.
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The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century, A VoxEU.org Publication, Edited by Andrew Felton and Carmen M. Reinhart [a EU publication by economists, for economists--if you have the time to slog through the academic literature]
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How Washington Failed to Rein In Fannie, Freddie, by By Binyamin Appelbaum, Carol D. Leonnig and David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post Staff Writers, Sunday, September 14, 2008
"...As early as 1996, the Congressional Budget Office had reported that the two companies were using government support to goose profits, rather than reducing mortgage rates as much as possible...
As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were trying to recover from their accounting scandals, a new and ultimately mortal threat emerged...
The companies had begun buying loans made to borrowers with credit problems.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had been losing market share to Wall Street banks, which were doing boomtown business packaging these riskier loans. The mortgage finance giants wanted a share of the profits...
President Bush had pledged to create an "ownership society," and the companies were helping the administration achieve its goal of putting more than 10 million Americans into their first homes...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's appetite for risky loans was growing ever more voracious. By the time OFHEO began raising red flags in January 2007, many borrowers were defaulting on loans and within months Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be running out money to cover the losses..."
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The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977: Not Guilty
Released January 26, 2009
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What Got Us Here
This is the article that many conservative "Free market" advocates site as their evidence that government itself was the cause of the financial sector meltdown. The author, Peter J. Wallison, is a member of the conservative "think tank," The American Enterprise Institute.
Just one critical note here: The author provides no references or studies to support his theory.
In rebutal, The Trigger Law (provided by Joe Alati--thanks Joe) article above does provide studies and research that contradicts the Wallison thesis.
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The Libertarian spin on the Financial system meltdown: TOO MUCH REGULATION
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