Fwd: Re: class struggle

[William S. Lear]

On Monday, June 28, 1999 at 11:23:01 (-0400) Doug Henwood writes:
>William S. Lear wrote:
>> >From: "James K. Galbraith" <Galbraith at mail.utexas.edu>
>> >...
>> >                            ....  The game is really about reducing credit
>> >access at the low end; bankers do not like making 75K mortgages to
>> >secretaries and nurses.
>>
>>This sounds like a credible explanation.  Doug, do you agree with it?
>
>Sounds odd to me. Bankers like making loans to anyone who'll pay them 
>back. Tighter credit means a weaker economy means fewer people paying 
>their loans back. If bankers didn't like making loans to secretaries 
>and nurses they'd either raise the interest rate to prohibitive 
>levels or refuse to make the loan. If anything, it's the regulators 
>who have to remind bankers about the need to adhere to credit 
>standards.

I wondered the same thing: why not just refuse the loan if you don't
like making it?

Are there regulations which might force the bankers' hand to accept
these low-end sort of loans?

Bill