Democrat Barney Frank Blames Republican Subprime Anger on Racism
United States Representative Barney Frank (Democrat) blamed criticism of Republicans about subprime lending - the habit of the government to force companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to hand out mortgages to individuals who would not be able to pay those mortgages back if something happened to the housing market - on racism on Monday.
The bizarre notion that the Community Reinvestment Act . . . somehow is the cause of the whole problem, (conservatives) don’t mind that,” the lawmaker said. “They’re aware that the affordable-housing goals of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and) the Community Reinvestment Act (aim to help) poor people. And let’s be honest, the fact that some poor people are black doesn’t hurt either from their standpoint.”
Frank’s words come after the Associated Press accused Governor Sarah Palin of racism for saying that Obama as “palling around with terrorists,” even though the terrorist she referred to - Bill Ayers - was white.
Many people believe that subprime mortgages are at the very heart of the current financial crisis. Those who express those beliefs are, according to Frank, racist.
Frank’s attack is, of course, not aimed at critics as much as it is at undecided voters for the November elections. At this moment, the far majority of the American people believe that Republicans are responsible for the collapse of financial institutions, not Democrats. The fact of the matter is, however, that both contributed to the meltdown, and that the role of Democrats should not be downplayed. They played a very significant role, honesty requires research into this and openness about it.
Of course, Frank and his fellow Democratic leaders do not want that; if people look into the crisis, and the causes for it, they will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that both sides are responsible. This will mean that it will be more difficult for Democrats to keep control of Congress and take over the White House. That is something Frank and his colleagues are desperately trying to prevent.
The old saying - No honor amoung thieves comes to mind.
Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank?s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank?s lover, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency?s push to relax lending restrictions.
Now that the Fannie Mae meltdown threatens the U.S. economy, questions are raising about Frank’s relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie?s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.
Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.
If he was Republican, this would be considered a conflict of interest. Everybody wants to avoid it because he?s gay. It?s a clear double standard.
While Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively.
Three years later, President Clinton?s Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to impose a new regulation on Fannie, but was thwarted by Frank.
Clinton now blames such Democrats for planting the seeds of today?s economic crisis - “I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Clinton said recently.
What more needs to be said?
What more needs to be said? How about the Neil Cavuto quote on Fox saying that "poor minorities" were the reason for the crash. Or how about when people call it the Fannie Meltdown. Fannie and Freddie were taken up and used up only 60 billion of our dollars. When that occured, the stock index was at 12,000. When Lehman, AIG, WaMu and the rest of the sub-prime sharks NOT under the CRA came running to the government, we had a 700 billion dollar tab and a shrinking stock market. So, lets do the math: Fannie & Freddie, CRA = 12,000 Dow, 60 Billion dollars. Lehman, AIG, et al = 9,000 , 700 billion dollars. If it isn’t about racism, it is surely about stupidity. The meltdown started when the private banks failed. Period. If you can’t see that, then lets believe Woodrow Wilson started the Vietnam war. If you want to use historical mumbo jumbo on a current correlation, then I have the right to make the same asinine comments.
Our pensions are disappearing and Barney Frank is playing the race card. No one is accusing minorities Mr. Frank. They are accusing you and your liberal buddies. You should resign from Congress immediately. And what about Chris Dodd and his sweetheart loan from County Wide. He should go to jail. Also, today HUD said that five million fraudulent loans went to illegal aliens.