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Capitalism: RIP

To Citishark, what do "liberals" to have to do with this current crisis???
This is capitalism at it's worse, not liberalism. This started with the Clinton admin, and the Republican congress, unless you consider republicans liberals (lol). We need to vote everyone out, everyone that has been there for the past 20 years Dem or Repub.

The Financial Crisis Explained

I have to agree with Satguru. Loans to lower income people were not the problem. CRA loans are not subprime loans. I worked in the mortgage industry for 25 years, and now I am out of a job because of this mess.
The problem is deregulation, no oversight whatsoever. Buying a house was easier than buying a car. It made no sense, but since the loan products were available, greedy people sold them. Everyone is to blame hear, EVERYONE, not just Congress, not just Wall Street, but the lenders, the brokers, the Realtors and the buyers, borrowers. But,
lower income people and the loans that have been made available to them are definitely not to blame. There's a reason why banks had to offer such loans, if the banks would just treat every borrower equally, then they would never have been "forced" to provide that type of financing in the 1st place. So, I have lost my job after 25 yrs in the lending industry, will the govt bail me out?

Who Had Superior Economic Performance - the Democrats or the Republicans?

Good article! I find it amusing how republicans are "always" right, and democrats are "always" wrong. So far, in my lifetime, the economy has not done well with a Republican in office. They do tend to say one thing and do another, as is the case with the current administration.

Why New Oil Price Highs?

Hmmm, that seems to make sense, but for me the reason gas prices are so high is because they can charge as much as they want as long as the Bush administration is in office. Cheney set the energy policy, and the gas companies know once he's out, the good times are over for them.

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

First of all, CRA loans are not and never have been subprime loans. These loans, to me basically benefited the broker, as the lenders paid an addl incentive for the broker to submit the loan to them. Maybe some of that incentive was passed along to the borrower, maybe not, but the intention is to have it passed to the buyer/borrower. Also, it only works in certain census tracts, identified by the lender. It has nothing to do with teaser rates, negative arms, etc. The subprime mess is a Wall Street issue, and everyone is to blame. The main reason? GREED, plain and simple.