What a hypocrite
I knew I shouldn't have but for some reason, I went ahead and read Cal Thomas' column today. Unbelievable.
It's the economic meltdown we're in is all the Democrats fault. No, really. According to Thomas:
It was pressure from the Carter and Clinton administrations that forces Fannie and Freddie to grant more high-risk loans to people who otherwise would never qualify. They mostly wanted to promote not only new home ownership numbers, but also more home ownership in the minority community. That was a noble goal, but the cost turned out to be too high.
Why Carter? Because the Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977. And apparently, it wasn't until 15 years later under Clinton that is was being used in a reckless way but let's blame Carter anyway.
Why Clinton? Because that's when more loans were being made to less qualified people. And apparently there was some pressure from Congress and the administration to do make such loans. And we know what a bunch of wimps the Republican controlled House and Senate since 1995 was under Clinton. The Clinton administration just mowed down all resistance to healthcare reform and pushed through one judicial appointment after another with the poor Republican's not able to do a thing.
But Thomas states in his own column:
Democrats would love to blame the Bush administration for a disaster they mostly helped to create. But, according to the White House, as early as April 2001, the administration warned that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was "a potential problem" because "financial trouble of a large (government-sponsored enterprise) could cause strong repercussions in the financial markets, affecting federally insured entities and economic activity."
And who controlled the White House and both Houses of Congress in 2001? Republicans! And what have they done in the years since they recognized the potential problem? Nothing!
Then there's the minor fact that Thomas only references Fannie and Freddie. Who forced the investment bankers to buy up the risky loans? Who forced AIG to offer insurance to these risky loans? Who gave million of dollars to CEO's who came up with these ideas? Wasn't it the all knowing market place that will automatically correct for wrong decisions?
And the thing that really gets me is that since the Thomas' column was online in the Express News, I made the mistake of going to his website to look for it. Apparently, the man has co-authored a book on "how to stop the partisan war that is destroying America." Maybe avoiding blaming everything negative on the other party would be a good place to start.
Filed under: Cal Thomas, Economy, Partisanship
