Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Markham
Bill is guilty of creating a scheme where people who couldn't afford a mortgage got one. Those mortgages were then changing hands on the Markets for more than their face value.
He's also guilty of signing a trade deal that fucked America.
Bush is guilty of two unwinnable wars and allowing the markets to sell debt at more than the debt.
Obama is guilty of allowing the shareholders to keep over charging for healthcare. Guilty of going to more unwinnable wars. How much of those decisions rested on the two houses?
|
Just as a point of clarity. Bill Clinton had nothing to do with creating the law that gave mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. That program had been around since the 70's and it had worked great for 20+ years. The law said that companies who gave out mortgages had to give a small number of mortgages to underqualified buyers. These were the subprime mortgages etc. It worked because the banks were careful with who they picked to give these mortgages to because if the person defaulted on it that bank (and likely that specific branch of the bank) would have to deal with it and it is a pain in the ass. So, they picked candidates carefully and had a very low default rate.
Clinton signed into a law a bill that deregulated the banks and allowed savings and loan style banks to sell investment products just like investment banks. Before this was not allowed to happen. Suddenly, the savings and loan banks realized they had something of real value, these mortgages, and investors wanted them so they started selling them like crazy. When they ran out, they wanted more so they used the law that allowed them to hand out subprime mortgages to hand out tons of them then turn around and resell them to others often within 48 hours of the papers being signed.