Perhaps some of the many fine people on the list can enlighten me. About a year and a half ago, a very conservative member of my family was arguing that the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailouts or the lack of their regulation were what caused the financial meltdown. It's something I've heard come from the right before and now I read this:
"Republican operatives from Washington said the president was playing politics and ignoring what they said were some of the real culprits, the government-backed mortgage housing giants Fannie Mae<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/fannie_mae/index.html?inline=nyt-org>and Freddie Mac<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/freddie_mac/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, accusing Democrats of blocking reforms that would have prevented problems.
“How many times will President Barack Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>mention Fannie/Freddie in his speech on ‘reform’?” Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Representative Eric I. Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip, said in an e-mail message to reporters. “Zero. Not once. Guess it remains the Democrats’ dirty little secret.""
So why does the GOP keep going back to Fannie and Freddie? What were they proposing that should have been done that the Dems prevented? What were these reforms and how could they have prevented problems? Is there something behind all this, or is it just some silliness by the GOP?
James Leveque