Krugman is full of s!?!

Krugman is full of s!?!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/opinion/krugman-rubio-and-the-zombies.html?_r=0

"Instead of learning from this experience, however, many on the right have chosen to rewrite history. Back then, they thought things were great, and their only complaint was that the government was getting in the way of even more mortgage lending; now they claim that government policies, somehow dictated by liberals even though the G.O.P. controlled both Congress and the White House, were promoting excessive borrowing and causing all the problems."

I was aware at the time of the conservative reservations about the mortgage problems caused by the democrats. They were requiring the banks to make loans to people they would not have otherwise. The source of the regulations were Democrat initiatives

"But the zombie keeps shambling on — and here's Mr. Rubio Tuesday night: "This idea — that our problems were caused by a government that was too small — it's just not true. In fact, a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies." Yep, it's the full zombie."

Notice, there is no disagreement expressed, only a vague slander. Wouldn't it be easy to describe just what was needed to prevent the problem? Dod Frank, names Democrats does it not?

The National Homeownership Strategy (NHS) may have been the most comprehensive, pervasive, impactful and transformational public policy initiative in U.S. history. Yet only a small percentage of Americans have ever heard of it. Even fewer understand the NHS' stated goal of record homeownership or are able to confirm whether those objectives were met.

Results from a recent AMD.com survey confirm this unfamiliarity: Link to Survey Results

The NHS was a massive, complex, coordinated undertaking.

The public policy initiative consisted of 100 distinct action items detailed within "The National Homeownership Strategy: Partners in the American Dream" released by HUD in May 1995. Specific examples of these action items include the following subject titles:

Action 11: Removing Barriers to Mortgage Financing for Starter Homes
Action 29: Alternative Approaches to Homebuying Transactions
Action 35: Home Mortgage Loan-to-Value Flexibility
Action 36: Subsidies to Reduce Downpayment and Mortgage Costs
Action 44: Flexible Mortgage Underwriting Criteria
Action 45: Public-Private Leveraging for Affordable Home Financing

The NHS' integrated effort included alliances with influential public, private and non-profit entities. At the time of publication in 1995 there were 56 "National Partnerships" including the American Bankers Association, Appraisal Institute, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank System, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, National Foundation of Consumer Credit, National Urban League and HUD.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2008/02/clintons_drive.html

"Add President Clinton to the long list of people who deserve a share of the blame for the housing bubble and bust. A recently re-exposed document shows that his administration went to ridiculous lengths to increase the national homeownership rate. It promoted paper-thin downpayments and pushed for ways to get lenders to give mortgage loans to first-time buyers with shaky financing and incomes. It's clear now that the erosion of lending standards pushed prices up by increasing demand, and later led to waves of defaults by people who never should have bought a home in the first place.

President Bush continued the practices because they dovetailed with his Ownership Society goals, and of course Congress was strongly behind the push. But Clinton and his administration must shoulder some of the blame."

So more government, whether dem or R, is bad. All zombies agree.






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