Well, even though John McCain said he wanted to put off the debate until the bailout legislation was passed, he showed up and they had the debate as scheduled. Both performed relatively well and neither made any major gaffes. After the debate, all the Obama supporters claimed he won while all the McCain supporters claimed their candidate won. Very predictable.
What happened after the debate? John McCain went back to Washington to continue working on the problem facing the country. Barack Obama went right back to campaigning, again putting himself first and country second. His primary message today is railing about how President Bush and John McCain are entirely to blame for our economic situation. He’s busy talking while McCain is taking action.
His actions and the rhetoric he is spewing today are not just irresponsible but downright despicable. Not only is he ignoring his responsibility as a United States Senator, the job he is getting paid for by the way, but he is spending his time pointing fingers and laying blame while not lifting a finger to help the situation. The worst part is, he is pointing at the wrong people and the wrong party.
Let’s take a look at some facts. Everybody wants to blame Wallstreet right now and while part of the blame might lie there, it isn’t the root cause. The real cause of the current problems originates in the housing market and irresponsible lending, primarily by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The subprime lending, the so called “bad paper” that all the greedy bad guys were dealing in, that’s the cause, right? Well, what caused that?
Let’s start at the beginning in the Clinton administration. The wonderful liberal democrats thought it was unfair that a larger percentage of minorities were being denied home loans. They decided to do something about it so they ventured into the area of social engineering to mandate that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lower the standards and make more loans available to minorities. Yes friends and neighbors, it was the democrats that forced the “bad paper” to be written in the first place.
While the spirit of this was admirable and was applauded at the time because it increased home ownership of “those less fortunate” it wasn’t a sound fiscal policy. Strictly from a business standpoint, it was unsound to grant more loans to people with questionable ability to repay. The government was interfering in the free market. The free market looks at ability to repay, credit rating, job status, and other factors ignoring race, creed or color. The federal government (remember – Clinton administration, democrats, early 1990’s) mandated that minority loans must be increased. This government meddling is the root cause of the problem. This was the initial rolling of the little snowball down the hill. The subprime lending increased, more and more companies (like Bear Stearns and Lehman) got involved in dealing in bad paper. The little snowball picked up more snow and grew into the avalanche we have today.
So why didn’t anybody notice this avalanche coming before it hit the ski lodge? Well, actually someone did. It seems that the George Bush administration started warning of problems with Fannie and Freddie specifically and urging congress to take action starting back in 2001. The Administration's FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity." Then another unheeded warning in 2002. In 2003, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight warned that problems “could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market” Warnings continued from the President and his administration urging congress to take action and they all went unheeded. Congress did NOTHING.
So you tell me. Who’s to blame for this mess? Who rolled the snowball? Who repeatedly warned of problems and called for action? And who did nothing?
Barack Obama and his liberal democrat cronies have the gall to say it’s Bush’s fault? It’s John McCain’s fault?
Give me a break…
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