UT alum

I can't see how a Republican doesn't choke on the word "obstructionist".

Actually, sir, Texas has work requirements for welfare recipients and I support them. They do work, and, heaven forbid, I propose that option be removed from the states. And to think conservatives rant and rave constantly about “liberal bias”. Give me a break.

first off, I make no claims to be a scholar, just an average Joe who tries his best to make sense of the world around me. As for the defaults, predatory lending practices are one way people are enticed (it does take a bit of a sense of greed on the borrower, as well). When the money people push the value over the edge of what's reasonable and the market crashes, what are people to do? Unemployment at 13%, house worth half what you paid, what you think's gonna happen. That does not absolve the mortgagee of their responsibilities. I reckon many a good credit score was ruined. The main point I wanted to make was, don't blame it all on government policy or poor people trying to game the system to live beyond their means. Middle and upper income groups amassed most of that foreclosure debt, greed being a motivator there as there were people buying and flipping like crazy riding that wave. A for my opinion of economists, I look to them for sources of information, opinions, and ideas. I might just look up Mr. Wallison's book and give it a go.

It doesn't address down payment and lessening of regs, but it does make a convincing argument that the upper and middle class earners drove the default crisis, not the lower income people whom the Community Reinvestment Act was meant to help.

Wow. Didn't know I was going to be held up to scholarly evaluation. Paul Krugman is a Nobel winning economist, and I'll bet you wouldn't agree to much of anything he had to say about economics. So, expert schmexpert. I couldn't find reference to the 300 lender statement other than by quote. If you want to read the research piece by the MIT school of management, however, it's right here: [Hidden Content].

Securitization of mortgages through derivative devices fueled a bubble that wound up driving housing prices to unsustainable levels. Add the Great Recession and voila. What I don't like is way that the role Community Reinvestment Act was distorted. That only gives conservative pundits I've heard their "cred" to blame the poor - their favorite targets. As for "Hidden in Plain Sight", I would prefer something a little more objective than what a shill for the American Enterprise Institute writes.

Sloan School of Management at MIT. The reduced down payments and other incentives by the fed applied only to properties in the community reinvestment zones - a small percentage of total foreclosures. The derivatives market provided the prime vehicle to fuel the greed.

Of thee top 300 mortgage lenders who crashed, none participated in the CRA program. The vast majority of foreclosures occurred in geographic areas not eligible for CRA participation. I think that the derivatives market and the rise of credit default swaps which arose in an unregulated financial environment brought in a lot more capital ( money) to throw aroundthan the fed government did. That’s another point of view.

So the feds put a gun to the mortgage lenders’ heads and made them follow unsound business practices?

That’s real easy to say when you’re talking about someone else’s job.

That’s one point of view.

That’s the best example of how irresponsible the banking system became during the frenzy.

I guess you you’re proud to have as president a man who is barred in the state of New York from having anything to do with non-profit organizations. That rates pretty high on my sleaze-o-meter. Also, isis defeated? Give me a break. Trump/Russia collision still up in the air. Korea? I think they’ve started building missiles again. Kim Jong Un played him like a cheap ukulele. Trade war is nothing but a series of import taxes on the American people. What’s your point on Kavanaugh and Gorsuch? They’re on the court, so what? He’s done hardly anything he promised, he just keeps saying he has over and over and over...

I don’t know. Ask a postal worker.

Zero doc loans were the government’s fault?

It started after the savings & loan crash in early eighties. Dodd Frank just latest iteration. Both parties do the banks’ bidding.

Hitler comparisons? Really?

Got a source to cite on that? I’m going to do a little research of my own. If you’re going to use Venezuela as your socialist model all the time, don’t forget to mentionthe corruption, and dictatorial leadership leading to ineffective governance. Why don’t you check out Norway for a much better example of a functioning social democracy. I mean, even Trump wondered why we couldn’t get more people from Norway to immigrate than from third world countries. Duh. They don’t want to leave.

I’ll leave it to the Supreme Court to interpret the scope of powers enumerated in the Constitution. The largest percentage increase in debt occurred during Reagan’s tenure-the tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves, we did. The OMB estimates the last round of cuts will add a trillion to the debt in 10 years. Don’t blame it all on “bloated ineffective programs”. As for healthcare, why do all other industrialized countries spend about 10% of GDP on healthcare while we spend north of 15% with overall outcomes not any better?

If everyone making hamburgers has to, yeah. Prices may rise some, but I’d rather pay more for a burger when the money’s going to wages than I would pay more for a car because of a tariff (euphemism for tax).

It needs to be done nationally to keep the playing field level. State by state increases are more problematic.

That’s what it’s there for. To address the public good through representatives elected by an informed electorate. I don’t need the fed to define selfish. You know it when you see it. What’s the alternative? You think multinational corporations care more for the public good or quarter to quarter reports to shareholders? They are more about self interest than public interest, as should be. Government has its role in any civilized society. Active participation by informed voters is the key to effective government.

Government policy is an important piece of the correction. How about some rules easing access to private capital for small business startups and expansion? I’m old enough to remember when you could walk into Silsbee State or First National bank and with a good idea and good reputation borrow $15k, 25k, something like that, on a handshake and signature, with the decision made by people who lived here and knew the community. Now those decisions are made by people you won’t even see. They’re in Alabama or Dallas or somewhere that only knows Silsbee because there’s a branch there. Those consolidations have screwed small business growth in small communities. Both parties passed the regs allowing it, but big banking interests wrote the legislation, and as a country we could, if united, get some rewrites done on some of those type laws. I’m telling you, Citizens United decision hurt the power of the vote a lot more than gerrymandering or voter I’d laws.

I just used it as an example. Could have been 15.00. It would have to be incremental, of course, not all at once. Most research I’ve seen indicate that minimum wage increases in the past do not cause the economic upheaval in the labor market you imply. Don’t have time to get into the weeds about it, but the research is out there.

When it comes to public works (i.e. infrastructure), defense, environment, social programs, and other work for the public good, I say yes. What defines “enough” varies from individual to individual, but the key word in that post was “selfish”.