Stewart Gordon

Larry Kudlow is Dead Wrong: CRA Didn't Start the Meltdown

1. I'd like stats to see the % of homes in the fragile reset condition that extends past mid-summer '09 are CRA type lending. My own contact with people in the mortgage business would suggest this is utter nonsense!
2.I don't indulge in Dem vs. Rep - after the ethanol bill and now the "keep the builders happy bill" I share the viewpoint of a friend who asked "How could 535 people be so collectively stupid?"
3. Mortage brokers were going gangbusters in 2002;Wall St. merely poured gasoline on the fire - and the banks and mortgage guarantee agencies had already abdicated quality discipline. Certainly no one expected Wall St. to do anything but push deteriorating ethics and business practices downhill; that's what they seem trained to do.
4.This took crooks at every level, wink-wink at every level (Confucius or someone said "when 2 men wink, both men are blind." Banks were so anxious to cut costs and merge they had inadequate loan departments who I am sure were egged on into approvals. I'm also sure some bank officer said, "If you do this for a CRA loan, why not for a 750,000 up-and-comer?" That doesn't make CRA the cause.
5.We have to have regulation because $$$ have run over ethics and responsibility,not because of socialism or freemarkets. Under the socialism that Larry fears, everyone cheats to survive;under free markets as practiced today, some cheat but they get great leverage.