Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal that the Mortgage Meltdown wasn't Bush's fault:
President Bush Tried to Rein In Fan and Fred:
Democrats and the media have the housing story wrong.... Some critics blame Mr. Bush because he supported broadening homeownership. But Mr. Bush’s goal was for people to own homes they could afford, not ones made accessible by reckless lenders who off-loaded their risk to GSEs [Government-Sponsored Enterprises]....
As one of those critics, let me point out to Mr. Rove that Mr. Bush didn't attempt to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it came to minority lending. In fact, he egged them on. From Bush's June 17, 2002 speech to St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopalian church:
Now, we've got a problem here in America that we have to address. Too many American families, too many minorities do not own a home. There is a home ownership gap in America. The difference between Anglo America and African American and Hispanic home ownership is too big. (Applause.) And we've got to focus the attention on this nation to address this.
And it starts with setting a goal. And so by the year 2010, we must increase minority home owners by at least 5.5 million. In order to close the homeownership gap, we've got to set a big goal for America, and focus our attention and resources on that goal. (Applause.)...
I want to thank Franklin Raines, of Fannie Mae and Leland Brendsel of Freddie Mac. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.)...
Three-quarters of white America owns their homes. Less than 50 percent of African Americans are part of the homeownership in America. And less than 50 percent of the Hispanics who live here in this country own their home. And that has got to change for the good of the country. It just does. (Applause.) And so here are some of the ways to address the issue. First, the single greatest barrier to first time homeownership is a high downpayment. It is really hard for many, many, low income families to make the high downpayment. ...
And let me talk about some of the progress which we have made to date, as an example for others to follow. First of all, government sponsored corporations that help create our mortgage system -- I introduced two of the leaders here today -- they call those people Fannie May and Freddie Mac, as well as the federal home loan banks, will increase their commitment to minority markets by more than $440 billion. (Applause.) I want to thank Leland and Franklin for that commitment. It's a commitment that conforms to their charters, as well, and also conforms to their hearts.
This means they will purchase more loans made by banks after Americans, Hispanics and other minorities, which will encourage homeownership. Freddie Mac will launch 25 initiatives to eliminate homeownership barriers. Under one of these, consumers with poor credit will be able to get a mortgage with an interest rate that automatically goes down after a period of consistent payments. (Applause.)
Fannie Mae will establish 100 partnerships with faith-based organizations that will provide home buyer education and help increase homeownership for their congregations. I love the partnership. (Applause.)My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Is Karl Rove black?
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteI don't recall you mentioning the site for Cochran and Harpending's new book, The 10,000 Year Explosion. It's really good and makes one want to buy the book.
"Profound" doesn't even begin to describe their preview of the chapter on "Consequences of Agriculture".
http://the10000yearexplosion.com/consequences-of-agriculture/
It seems our leaders often get "captured" by the latest politically correct fads, the latest being federal deficit spending to improve the economy. This does not end well.
ReplyDeleteIt seems our leaders often get "captured" by the latest politically correct fads, the latest being federal deficit spending to improve the economy. This does not end well.
ReplyDeleteI wish people would stop misusing the term "politically correct."
Here's some help from some wise old heads:
http://antimisandry.com/harrys-corner/peter-hitchens-political-correctness-409.html
Please can we stop using the stupid expression "political correctness gone mad" . First, political correctness is a stern, fierce movement which is completely sane and sets out deliberately to stop us from saying - and thinking - various things. It is not a joke, nor is it out of control. It is deliberate, purposeful and serious. Those who enforce it plan to change the world and they will succeed for as long as we treat PC as a laugh, or as some sort of batty bureaucratic mix-up which will go away in the end.
-Peter Hitchens
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/3544.html
Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
-Theodore Dalrymple
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gottfried/gottfried35.html
(...)
I refuse to treat political correctness as an academic eccentricity and present it instead as a tool of managerial control. Universities are not the only context in which pc and its accompanying mantra about diversity have taken over. Churches, corporations, and the media push the same partylines, but without government interventions we would not be worrying about the legal consequences of not paying sufficient respect to state-designated victims. This fact is so obvious that one has to speculate on the reasons it is ignored – particularly on what today passes for the Right.
(...)
Maybe,since the PC term continues to be distorted and trivialized
by media disinfo hacks, some other appellation should be used,like "cultural marxism" or neo-communist:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/02/cultural_marxism.html
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/06/political-correctness-revenge-of.html
"Less than 50 percent of African Americans are part of the homeownership in America. And less than 50 percent of the Hispanics who live here in this country own their home."
ReplyDeleteInteresting choice of words concerning the Hispanic home owners: "who live here in this country...". This suggests that Bush is unwittingly acknowledging that lots of these people aren't citizens, and probably not even here legally. How many of those loans were approved using Maticula Consular cards as ID and TINs in lieu of SSNs?
There is a graceful continuity of dudness between the Slick Willie and W administrations.
ReplyDeleteJust thought you might find this interesting. You've probably already seen it, since you browse the American Renaissance website, right?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2009/01/nearly_10_perce.php
Nearly one in 10 Latino homeowners fell behind in mortgage payments last year, and about 3 percent said they had received a foreclosure notice, a Hispanic research group reported Thursday.
The Pew Hispanic Center’s survey of Hispanic adults found that 9 percent said they missed a mortgage payment or made a partial payment during the past year. Nearly half of respondents, 47 percent, indicated they were homeowners, a figure consistent with census data that shows 49.5 percent of Hispanics owned their homes in the third quarter of 2008.
Among Hispanic renters, 5 percent said they had lived in a home that went into foreclosure in the past year.
{snip}
The center’s survey of 1,540 Hispanic adults, conducted in English and Spanish last November, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Hispanics make up 15 percent of the U.S. population.
The strain felt by Hispanic homeowners seemed consistent with that of all U.S. homeowners. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported last month that a record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage was at least one month behind on payments or in foreclosure at the end of September 2008.
Lautaro Diaz, a housing expert for the National Council of La Raza, said it’s likely the numbers of Hispanics having trouble paying mortgages will increase given the fact that financial institutions marketed subprime mortgages or “exotic” loan products heavily to minorities, and often advertised in Spanish language media.
Right.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about it also, how Bush 'W' went beyond socialism, beyond communism.
Even in my old communist country the regime did not guarantee everyone housing - it was a privilege, that one had to work for a long time.
It always boggled my mind how similar both parties are and how they serve the same lobby money (as in plural, really, lobbies' monies).
Oh sure, they say different things on wedge issues that do not matter to anyone but the really stupid percentage of American population - things like gay marriage, religion, the like - but on real, "meaty" issues that DO matter, they march to the same drum.
FISA, Iraq occupation, Patriot Act, Homeland Security, loss of our Bill of Rights (almost total loss of that) both parties enthusiastically support.
Keep feeding them the spinach, Steve.
ReplyDelete