Who To Blame Now?! Redux 2016!

COMMENTARY - There are some things to remember amidst all the new presidential campaign rhetoric being posted on social media sites, and throughout both mainstream and alternative media. Not everyone is honest. And social media is filled with accusations, claims and misrepresentations that people keep 'sharing' and touting as fact.

Take for instance Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). He has been railing against the Republican party blaming them for everything wrong in America. An old video of him slamming Alan Greenspan has surfaced and is labeled as him vehemently attacking the Republican party for the destruction of our economy.

Here's some realities.

In 1977, then President Jimmy Carter created the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act). This was to get banks / lending institutions to be more helpful to members of the communities in which they operate. However, this particular approach was made null and void with all the massive banking convergences. There are no longer local community banking / lending institutions. They are all national (and in some cases, international) conglomerates who don't really “operate” locally in the sense they did when the CRA was enacted.

Then in 1995 then president Bill Clinton lowered the standards about who could get low cost, no-cost housing loans, which – by all accounts – directly led to too many unqualified people getting loans they were never going to be able to pay back.

The blame game began in earnest which led to the current economic crisis America finds itself in.

In April of 2001, the Bush Administration first red flagged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stating that "financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity."

(Note - Bush also pushed for an audit of the Fed and experienced push back by the Democrats. Here is an interesting timeline on the White House's own archives.)

In response to the Bush's regulatory overhaul proposal, Barney Frank, a ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, defended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying,

“These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing . . . I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger. . . I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. . . . Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country.”

Barney Frank railed against the Bush administration's attempts to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a racist move. Maxine Waters declared vehemently that they were trying to fix something that “wasn't broken”. Gregory Meeks stated in a hearing (where he felt he had more important places to be other than there) that there was nothing wrong with “you know, Fannie Mae” and even attacked the competency of the oversight agency. Lacy Clay claimed the whole thing was actually about the “political lynching of Franklin Raines” (who was black, thus invoking old time racism prior to the Civil Rights movement).

Democrat after Democrat came to the defense of a broken system that led directly to the financial crisis we have been facing for far too many years. And now Bernie Sanders, Democrats and the media rant against Republicans laying the blame at their feet. When in fact it is the fault of both parties. Democrats for their failed judgment time and time again in the name of social programs, Republicans for a lack of bravery (or cajones) to stop them. BUT MOST OF ALL, it is the fault of the American people as well for being asleep at the wheel and letting these self absorbed and self serving people do ALL of these things.

This is yet another reason NOT to elect anyone from the established political parties. They are all complicit in the decline of America. And any rant to the contrary is simply political showmanship and proof of business as usual.

There are many places to find out this information but here is one source where you can find this information out (See more at: http://www.thehispanicconservative.com/General/the-fanny-mae-and-freddie-mac-debacle.html#sthash.eEnRbonG.dpuf). However, I have always stated that you should never simply take someone's word for it. Go to many sources and form your own opinion from facts you find. (I repeat, FACTS you find.) I don't even want you to simply take my word for it. I am just giving you factual food for thought with my own opinion thrown in. (Thus, why this article is labeled as “Commentary” and “Op/Ed”.)

So, agree or disagree, I only ask that you do so from your own base of knowledge. Don't disagree with me (or even agree with me) because someone else told you to. In order for America to right this listing ship of state, we ALL must learn to think for ourselves and stop being sheep!

But whatever you decide, this is just me, Thinking Out Loud!

Have a great day!

Charles