Can someone help me refute a RW talking point (Freddie, Fannie)

[Tiberius]

Greetings all,

So, the meme that I've sensed gathering strength over the last few weeks is that the mortgage/credit crisis is a result of the fact that the government decided to help the disadvantaged, or even the middle class, get into homes.

Seriously, what percentage of people were helped by programs that would otherwise have been unavailable? It just seems too convenient to blame the lower and working classes who were trying to buy a home... not only does it deflect the blame AWAY from the Wall Street casino, it puts it on to the poor... how convenient.

Does anyone know the actual percentages of mortgages given to whom? Would these folks have been able to get mortgages elsewhere? How many of these mortgages given to lower/middle class people are actually in default, as opposed to neg-am, adjustable rate, gambler no-doc loans given to those who were overreaching on their own family balance sheets?

Regards

Tiberius

[NMDemDist2]

1. a long read, but a good one

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=did_liberals_cause_the_subprime_crisis

[Tiberius]

5. That's a great read, thank you

However, the blame is being placed on a much more recent phenomenon - Freddie and Fannie loaning to folks in the last 5-10 years... not since the 70s....

[soothsayer]

2. i heard 4 percent went to minorities.

[Raschel]

3. McCain assumed the "colored man" in the audience never heard of Fannie or Freddie.

I think that's terrible. He said, "you've probably have never heard of them before now...."

What the heck, I've heard of them long ago, and I'm no Wall Street player.... This guy is in THE AUDIENCE. Wouldn't he know something about Freddie and Fannie?

Sorry, but he might as well be the Grand McDragon.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. Here's how I rebut those pieces of shit

Who's fault would it be if a lower income family bought a home from a large billion dollar home builder, then the roof collapsed three years later? Would it be the fault of the family who bought the home, or the greedy assholes who sold them a lemon?