Barney Frank 'Fesses Up on Financial Crisis

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There are few things you are forgetting Jeff, Bush tried to reform the baniing system twice but was stonewalled by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. As a result the bills Bush want to pass to reform these banks never came up for a vote.

author5555 of MO 6:10PM November 29, 2011

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Popular of AL 2:12AM August 01, 2011

j26vom

Yqicgedr of NC 11:30AM July 13, 2009

I thought these FACTS would be helpful. If you want to point fingers at who were responsible for the current financial crisis, start with who was in control off the most powerful positions governing the markets while the crisis was in the making:
1) Senate Banking Committee, Chair….Richard Shelby (R), 2003-2007
2) House Financial Services, Chair……Mike Oxley (R), 2001-2007
3) SEC Chairman……......Christopher Cox ( R), Bush Appointee 2005-2009
4) SEC Chairman……William Donaldson ( R ) Bush Appointee 2003-2005
5) SEC Chairman……Harvey Pitt ( R ) Bush Appointee 2001-2003
6) Treasury Secretary……Henry Paulson ( R ), Bush Appointee, 2006-2009
7) Treasury Secretary……John Snow ( R ), Bush Appointee, 2003-2006
8) Treasury Secretary……Paul O’Neill ( R ), Bush Appointee, 2001-2002
9) Fed Chairman………. .Ben Bernanke ( R ), Bush Appointee, 2006-Present
10) Fed Chairman…… …..Alan Greenspan ( R) Reagan Appointee 1987-2006
Also, remember that every American who voted in this last election for or against Obama new exactly what his plans were should he become President. And the results were overwhelming. Right? So why does writers like yourself continue to imply that Americans should now be shocked at his agenda?

Jeff Cross of FL 12:55PM March 12, 2009

Credit Default Swaps are what has caused the financial fiasco. These were invented in the late 1990's and were deregulated by congress in 2000. These allowed the responsibility for the subprime mortgages and mortgages and other loans to transfered to a third party, a fourth party and beyond. And these CDS derivatives were made into "bets" as to whether mortgages would be paid off. The hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars owed under these CDS obligations(which far exceed the amount of the original subprime defaults) is what turned a manageable crisis into a financial fiasco.

James Johnson of IL 12:42PM February 25, 2009

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OxeTqXBsypDvedQ of VA 3:06AM February 20, 2009

I find it interesting how the blame game gets played for this fiasco. Everyone wants to blame the unpopular Bush and point to the "deregulation and evil policies" of his administration, but no one can point to any specific deregulation or policies that let this happen. The only responsible and analytic root cause analysis of the current financial crisis points directly to the expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act under Clinton's watch. Legislation was passed to give loans to people who can't afford them, and liberal die-hards somehow believe that this is not the primary reason why so many people aren't paying their mortgages.
Are there other causes and factors? Absolutely. Was Bush a good president? Absolutely not. But blame needs to be placed where it is due.
There are countless articles documenting how home prices increased dramatically when compared to inflation after the CRA article was passed. Anyone with google can find articles dating back to as early as 1999 talking about the leading indicators of an upcoming recession. Anyone who doesn't live in denial knows that many efforts were made over the past 8 years to reform Fannie and Freddie, and all those reforms were stonewalled by partisan politics.
Who is to blame? Everyone. What is to blame? Partisan politics. No one wants to let progress be made unless they get the credit for it, and get to blame the other guy for needing the changes. This explains the politics of the last 8 years, and the cowboy mentality of the previous president. And the current president is not helping any by telling lawmakers "I won" and ignoring the desires of the 46% of the population that didn't vote for him. 53% of people voted for change we can believe in, yet the only thing that's changes is the clueless egomaniac at the helm.

disgruntled of IL 9:50AM January 30, 2009

You best think again, sir. The Republicans tried, and the Democrats blocked every step of the way to fix the problem. How many times did George W Bush warn about this? 17 times?
Funny, how you forget how the Democrats are the ones who mandated the lenders to give out loans to those who couldn't afford them in the first place. And now, it's these same Democrats want us, the American people, to foot the bill.
You want finger pointing? Look no further than in the mirror, sir.

Democrats-Lie of PA 11:26AM November 30, 2008

1995 Clinton and his cronies DEMANDED that banks give loans to those that previously could not qualify for such. If the banks refused to do so, they were to be fined and punished for not extending the "dream of home ownership" to all Americans.
Now that this DEMOCRATIC policy has finally ripened and bubbled to the top, ask yourselves - which party is it that demanded individuals without a history of PAYING THEIR FREAKIN' BILLS, should be given a home loan?
This was a Clinton pushed, Demo-supported effort to appease those that did not deserve to be granted loans in the first place. It was popularity-mongering at its finest and we are reaping the financial whirlwind of such irresponsible and idiotic actions.
Ask any financial professional - it takes approximately 7-8 years for the ramifications of a President's financial policy to trickle down to Main Street.
This is why times were so good for the Clinton years... Reagan and Bush I set it up so that we would be successful... Clinton rode the wave and we are no reaping the end result of HIS policies...
All you whining liberals need to open your eyes, stop blaming those who tried to end the madness and start asking questions that matter - why did lower their lending standards? Because DEMOCRATS screamed racism and discrimination and the politicians afraid of such words bent to the will of the squeaky wheel.
I do not care if you are Red, Black, Blue or Green... if you have a HISTORY of not paying your bills, you DO NOT deserve to be given a loan!

TruthBearer of UT 11:03PM October 18, 2008

How is it the party that was not in power fault? The current admistration has had a lock down on information, let's not forget about the truth also secret secrets for the last 8 years. They ask for 750 billion for the war, then trillions and so on, saying everything is fine just hand over all the money and we'll take care of it. Now that the squeeze is loosened up the bottom is falling out and it's everyones else fault. Just look at the latest Bill O'reiley interview with Barney. Find someone yell at him and fell like you've helped America. It's a good thing his not giving tips on how to get thru this,
He rather
1.yell at someone 2.feel good about yourself 3. drive home to your mansion in your new 2009 BMW 4.Pretend like you helped the American people 5. Gloat more about how you are single handedly bringing all evil do-ers down. Last but not least "Make sure you are so full of hate so you can block out what's really happening" Someone need to pull the plug on that show. NOW
This all might be the best "let's screw everyone now cause we won't be here later" ever pulled in recent history by a President!

stevve of NH 1:28AM October 17, 2008