Michael Barone

Who's Responsible for the Financial Meltdown: Fannie and Freddie, or Congress?

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September 24, 2008 RSS Feed Print
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Congress, according to my American Enterprise Institute colleague, Kevin Hassett. His Bloomberg column links to a prescient 2005 article by another AEIer, Peter Wallison. And here is Wallison's latest, coauthored by AEI colleague Charles Calomiris. All three are well worth reading.

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Wall Street,
Freddie Mac,
Congress,
Fannie Mae

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Peter Bailey was an independent business man running a business with no government help or interference. He was a free marketer. When his company got in trouble, it was the investors who got them through the crunch, not the taxpayer. There is no comparison to the mortgage crises now going on in the U.S. Nobody forced people to invest in the savings and loan, they freely made their choice to do so. Not so for taxpayers who are now being forced to subsidize people who can't be pay their bills.

Brenda 9:49AM February 21, 2009

The blame can be spread around pretty widely but some of it should accrue to at least two members of Congress: Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Both these individuals refused to accept the fact that there was insufficient oversight being of the lending industry being conducted. In fact they went so far as to help block legislation that would have created greater oversight of the industry.

Ed of SC 3:34PM February 16, 2009

The blame can be spread around pretty widely but some of it should accrue to at least two members of Congress: Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Both these individuals refused to accept the fact that there was insufficient oversight being of the lending industry being conducted. In fact they went so far as to help block legislation that would have created greater oversight of the industry.

of 3:34PM February 16, 2009

Michael Barone

Michael Barone

Michael Barone is a senior writer for U.S.News & World Report and principal coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. He has written for many publications—including the Economist and the New York Times.

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