Apparently you missed all the chapters that Bush wrote in that book. The most important chapters. Written when there was still time to fix the problem. But instead he took a market that was hot and do for a normal correction and imploded it with his policies over a 5 to 6 year period. Want some more fish?
Here's your first fishie... President Hosts Conference on Minority Homeownership In June, President Bush announced the national goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million by the end of this decade. Providing Downpayment Assistance. The single biggest barrier to homeownership is accumulating funds for a downpayment. The President has proposed $200 million annually for the American Dream Downpayment Fund to help roughly 40,000 families a year with their downpayment and closing costs. In addition, the Administration has proposed the use of Section 8 funding to assist with downpayments, and provides downpayment assistance to low-income and minority homebuyers through the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund at the Department of Treasury. Substantially increasing, by at least $440 billion, the financial commitment made by the government-sponsored enterprises involved in the secondary mortgage market specifically targeted toward the minority market. Since the President's call to action in June, private and nonprofit partners in the real estate and mortgage finance industries have been working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to increase minority homeownership. Commitments made by these partners include: Aggressively developing new mortgage products so that conventional market alternatives are available to combat the predatory loan products that are disproportionately targeted to minorities; Creating new mortgage products to meet the unique needs of recent immigrants;
Here's another fishie... George W. Bush: Remarks on Signing the American Dream Downpayment Act The rate of homeownership in America now stands at a record high of 68.4 percent. Yet there is room for improvement. The rate of homeownership amongst minorities is below 50 percent. And that's not right, and this country needs to do something about it. We need to close the minority homeownership gap in America so more citizens get the satisfaction and mobility that comes from owning your own home, from owning a piece of the future of America. Last year I set a goal to add 5.5 million new minority homeowners in America by the end of the decade. That is an attainable goal; that is an essential goal. And we're making progress toward that goal. In the past 18 months, more than 1 million minority families have become homeowners. And there's more that we can do to achieve the goal. Many people are able to afford a monthly mortgage payment but are unable to make the downpayment, and so this legislation will authorize $200 million per year in downpayment assistance to at least 40,000 low-income families. These funds will help American families achieve their goals and, at the same time, strengthen our communities.
And one more fishie I will give you today... Zero-down mortgage initiative by Bush is hit - The Boston Globe Zero-down mortgage initiative by Bush is hit Budget office says plan likely to spur more loan defaults The election-year idea may appeal to those who can't save as fast as home prices are rising. But some financial planners warn that increasingly common no- and low-down-payment programs can be ruinous for some consumers -- especially if home values decline. If housing prices fall, consumers with little or no money of their own invested in the home are more vulnerable to ending up with mortgages larger than the value of the house. Bush proposed zero-down-payment legislation earlier this year. The Congressional Budget Office has contended for months that the proposal would generate huge losses, an assessment that could be a stumbling block for the bill's passage. But the Department of Housing and Urban Development thinks the program could be run on a break-even basis. Bush contends that reducing the required 3 percent down in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program to zero down would help 150,000 first-time buyers in the first year. Homeownership rates are now about 69 percent nationwide, compared to about 64 percent 10 years ago. The FHA insures many private-lender home loans.
All of this is fine but you aren't tracing the problem to it's origin, instead you are focusing on aspects that popped up along the way (not saying they didn't make a substantial contribution to the bubble burst). What Bush advanced may seem irresponsible but asissting in down payments & loaning to minorities doesn't necessarily lead to foreclosures. What leads to foreclosures is the government telling a bank they can not ask for income verification or calculate debts ratios (as banks were instructed in the early-mid 90's. Bush policies were more of a sympton, Clinton policies started the tidal wave.
You either aren't reading it or can't comprehend it but the fact is that I posted plenty that showed Bush did pressure the financial institutions to come up with new ways to make these mortgages happen. And also that he enabled the no money down (sure to lead to higher default) housing market that led to the bust. The prior years were a trickle. What Bush did caused the dam to break.
So then Bush could have nipped the problem before it snowballed but chose not to. In fact he assisted in making the problem worse.
Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Another interesting statistic from an article written September 24, 2005... Panic Now and Beat the Rush by Kevin Duffy So, do to Bush's initiatives, the percentage of subprime loans more than tripled from 2002 to 2005. And, guess what, it went to 36% by 2007. So under Bush, during the 7 years before the crash the percentage of subprime loans rose to 6 times what it was when he entered office. But, of course, all that really happened back in the early 90ies under Clinton in that alternate universe we are supposed to buy into.
But, wait, don't forget that evil Fannie and Freddie that Bush warned us about. Hear are his comments about those 2 evils in 2002... President Calls for Expanding Opportunities to Home Ownership
Things change over time. We didn't classify loans as "subprime" in the same manner they are classified today. We also made a distinction between "novelty" loans (over equity loans, interest only loans, etc) and "subprime" loans a few years ago- now they are all called "subprime" without regard to a buyers credit history. So I think our difference in thought on this subject is as much in terminology as anything else. We can also talk about the evolution of the real estate appraisal side of the issue too but that would take an entire thread in and of itself.
Oh yeah, I am sure the definition changed drastically during that 3 year period when Bush's policies tripled the subprime percentage. Hell, the definition probably changed another half a dozen times during the next 3 years when he managed to make it 6 times what it was. After all, you say so and that is much better than providing anything to back up what you say.
This should end all blame game and pro/cons of the mortgage crisis: Community Reinvestment Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From that article... Some economists, politicians and other commentators[who?] have charged that the CRA contributed in part to the 2008 financial crisis by encouraging banks to make unsafe loans. Economists, including those from the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, dispute this contention. And, of course, one can look what it did to the housing market. Nothing really. Until Bush came into office with his policies. Then all of a sudden the normal cycle went nu-cu-lar. He took what had been a normal housing situation for decades and blew the whole economy all to hell in 7 years by encouraging and enabling irresponsible home ownership.
And just to be clear, nowhere am I blaming the entire Republican party during this time. I even posted quotes that showed his own party warned that his policies were going to blow up. I am blaming Bush and his specific, and verifiable, policies that he forced into existence.
You've once again posted a graph depicting housing values. I for one am glad the value of my house went way up during the bubble! Even after the market adjustment (adjustments happen with any investment vessel, of course) over the past few years my property has still appreciated...according to your data.
Yeah, that graph shows perfectly how a 'normal' adjustment like that is so normal. And look how much good it did for the country to have an artificially inflated housing market filled with 5.5 million Bush enabled owners that could not afford their mortgages. It, of course, led to no loan defaults or financial industry problems. Lucky us. And, of course, had nothing to do with Bush. Yay team!
Oh, and, of course, it is pure coincidence that your home price is still more than when you bought because the market stopped its free fall in 2009. There was nothing significant that changed in 2009, of course. Just a fluke thing.
Obama saved David's home value. Without Barack Obama, David would almost certainly be homeless. And that is an absolute fact. Why? Because I just typed it.
