[lbo-talk] Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and the GOP?

[socialismorbarbarism]

"Sure.  But (a) it didn't come from the government forcing them to
lend to poor people (any more than they forced private banks) -- they
were volunteering, and (b) the obvious cause of F&F problems was that
they were half private, and the obvious solution is that they should
be entirely nationalized.  In that case this wouldn't have happened."

All true. But the point is, the right's attack on Freddie and Fannie
is rational. Their tactics are rational. Fully nationalizing F&F is
not on the table, so there is no downside for them. Why not attack
F&F, which even in its not-really-public, not-really-progressive form
is abhorrent to enough of the right's supporters, and one might 1)
make it even harder for poor people to get housing credit, 2) distract
from the real failures of the wondrous private sector, 3) tie their
opponents up in knots as they defend an F&F that stinks to high
heaven? It's win-win.

On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 6:56 PM, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 24 Apr 2010, socialismorbarbarism wrote:
>
>> Well, sure, it's utter nonsense that Fannie and Freddie can be the *cause*
>> of the collapse, and there's little doubt that they are the target for
...