I love the revisionist history here. "you have to make loans to the minority neighborhoods!" (market crash) "everyone was racist! " http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6930K520101004
Well, DUH. But it's not particularly a racist thing. GW Bush talked about the "Ownership Society" as if he wanted everyone, including people in minority neighborhoods, to be able to own their home. Similarly, Democrats and some Republicans seriously opposed any kind of reform that would have protected the industry from the scale of defaults we saw because they wanted minorities to be able to own their homes as well.
The practice continued through W's presidency. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/10/blame-bush.html When he was testifying before Congress the other day about the world's economic crisis, former Bush Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said that too many unqualified people got loans. He suggested that one of the culprits might have been George W. Bush's "ownership society." Borrowing the concept from conservative thinkers, President Bush began touting an ownership society early in his first term. The idea encompassed a range of policies -- from healthcare to house buying -- in which Republicans believed government should get out of the way and empower individuals to make their own financial decisions. In a fact sheet, the White House said: The president believes that homeownership is the cornerstone of America's vibrant communities and benefits individual families by building stability and long-term financial security. Challenging the real estate and mortgage finance industries to "close the gap that exists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities," the president argued that increasing homeownership would enroll everyone in the fabric of their communities, thus decreasing crime, improving schools and cementing a sense of local civic pride.
I have no beef with people owning property or even getting loans that make it easier to qualify. The issue was a big rate hike on ARM loans hit at the same time as a food shortage (too much food converted to ethanol, yay Green!), oil prices, etc. And the way the loans were packaged for resale.
There was class discrimination, not racial. As always, lenders stuck it to poor people while giving the wealthy all the breaks. Still happening just as much right now as we speak.
