The Economy and the Subprime Mess: "Root of our calamity"

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer stated it appropriately when discussing just how the subprime housing mess contributed the current financial CRISIS.

"For decades, starting with Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, there has been bipartisan agreement to use government power to expand homeownership to people who had been shut out for economic reasons or, sometimes, because of racial and ethnic discrimination. What could be a more worthy cause? But it led to tremendous pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- who in turn pressured banks and other lenders -- to extend mortgages to people who were borrowing over their heads. That's called subprime lending. It lies at the root of our current calamity."

Naturally, the Left is blaming the greed of Wall Street. Of course, they played a part; therein lies the problem with Capitalism. But the roots of the housing mess were took hold decades ago, under Democratic leadership and emboldened by Leftist community groups. I made the point yesterday, the Democrats and the Left played as much of a role, IF NOT MORE, than anyone else.

Of course the Democrats are blaming this ENTIRE problem on Wall Street and predatory lenders. What an insane notion. Check out Michelle Malkin's article on the Left Wing Mortgage Counseling Racket. A plethora of mortgage counseling exists and DID exist when the subprime bullshit was going down.

Conservatives in the Senate (the few of them that are left) seem to have just rolled over and accepted at face value the liberal premise that the subprime mess was primarily created by a lack of education–as opposed to high-risk borrowers and lenders consciously making bad decisions and expecting now to be insulated from the consequences of their actions. From the way Harry Reid and company talk about the $100 million mortgage counseling provision, you would think helpless, hapless, vulnerable borrowers are being left adrift with no one to turn to for information.

Furthermore, Malkin adds the following:

As I’ve pointed out several times over the past year, mortgage counseling is a thriving racket that benefits far Left groups ranging from the AARP to ACORN to La Raza and Legal Aid. The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups across the country. In October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001.

And now we're on the verge of passing an extremely unpopular $700 billion bailout measure; thanks to unholy alliance with these same Democrats who created this mess and a misguided President George Bush. What does this do? Essentially it serves a dual purpose: 1.) it absolves a g-damn greedy Wall Street that acted in a reckless behavior, but 2.) it also erases culpability on the homeowner's end; they bought houses they couldn't afford with shady credit histories. Furthermore, it exonerates the Democrats who set in motion the events that created this travesty.

It's shameful. The Democrats are destroying this country. In addition to this subprime mess, which is somehow pawned off onto Republicans, their devotion to this ungodly Global Warming will bankrupt this country if allowed to continue unfettered. Couple that with their adherence to a dogma that kills babies, protects death row inmates, figurately and literally spits in the face of our military, while ramming progressive values down our throat and stifling free speech, thought, and religion, and we have a recipe for disaster.

And now, we the taxpayers, are paying for everyone else's indiscretions. Query a homeowner, a REAL homeowner; someone who saved for a down payment, pays their mortgage every month faithfully, and who did NOT buy a house that superceded their budget.

These people are demoralized. They did things the right way. Read Michelle Malkin's latest article; it sums up the situation perfectly.