From the same guys that brought you the out and out lie about the immigration bill last summer comes the even bigger lie about the Mortgage Crash. You remember the immigration lie....that it was an amnesty bill. Say a real lie long and loud enough and it somehow starts to sound like the truth. So the guys on the right ruined a good immigration bill and now they want to blame the mortgage crash on the democrats.
It takes a real stretch and some real nerve to claim all across the AM radio dial that the Democrats caused the mortgage Crash by their leftist policies. Lets look at some facts;
Since the thirties there has been a a law , The Glass-Steagall Act, that regulated just how the banks could organize themselves and how they would be regulated. The rules were complicated and the change that came to them was a furtherance of the idea that de-Regulation was Best, that a free market was always the Best. This is the same de-regulation that has brought us the wondrous experience that air-travel has become.
So, in 1999, a law was passed that de-regulated the Banks. Now on the radio the current Big Lie they are saying that this de-regulation is to be blamed on Bill Clinton and the democrats in general. Now I'm not a fan of Bill but this particular snafu is not all his doing. The act that repeals restrictions on Banks and security firms is called ; The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and it was touted as a Financial Services Modernization Act.
Well the Gramm in this, is none other that Phil Gramm, a member of the McCain election team ...economic advisor in fact . And, you will remember that he is the bright guy that said that we are all a bunch of whiners...economically speaking that is. Anyway, this bill passed the Senate by 90 to 8. So, with a vote like that it seems that almost everybody in the Senate liked this bill. And, clearly, as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Sen.Gramm allowed and in fact supported this bill to go forward so it could become a law. And the Senate Majority Leader at the time this bill passed, Sen.Trent Lott, a republican, said," When history is written of this session of Congress , it will probably identify this piece of legislation as the single biggest achievement...."
This is just one part of what went on to enable our economic system to become so seriously impacted by unfettered greed. But, don't tell me that its ALL the Democrats fault.
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Milton Friedman said "Only a crisis produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around." One of the problems is most of the ideas lying around after these tragic occurances (we are seeing alot more of them lately...) are currently designed to create incredible profit for corporations--who I believe are wildly out of control...And as you point out here Wes, that fault often lies on both sides of the aisle. (I'm reading a book called "Shock Doctrine" that looks deeply at this...highly recommend it).
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