On Sat, 24 Apr 2010, James Leveque wrote:
> So why does the GOP keep going back to Fannie and Freddie?
Doug summed it up, but it goes even farther: they need the Fannie and Freddie explanation. Of all the possible explanations, it is the only one that fits with their worldview. It makes government the problem, rather than the solution. And it makes forced redistribution to poor black people the problem, rather than massive redistribution upwards to rich white people.
It is also utter nonsense. But if they give it up they would be forced to admit the crisis challenges their entire worldview. Worldviews hate that. That's why they are so virulently attached to it.
You might like this short summary to put it in context:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/six-doctrines-in-search-of-a-policy-regime
It's Krugman's summary of a talk he gave at the Levy institute on theories of the financial crisis. He comes up with six, of which this is one, and he refutes in a few sentences as the only one that doesn't have a even a piece of truth to contribute. If you want more detail, there were many excellent pieces that refuted this argument when it first emerged.
Michael