http://query.nytimes.com/…

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

…

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.

”From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

It was obvious to just about everyone… yet Democrats in particular… the likes of Dodd, Clinton, Schumer, Reid, Obama, etc. endorsed and in several cases explicitly benefited from the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The CRA was not the only or even the most important aspect which lead to the current crisis. Bad lending couldn’t have been sustained or would have been possible if not for the Federal Reserves incredibly low interest rates and market manipulation. The CRA was the vehicle which the rode the low interest wave to creating the boom.

I know that many of us were deeply disappointed when the U.S. House of Representatives today failed to pass Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s emergency stabilization plan. We believe that the defeat of this plan is not only bad for the markets and for our firm - but a dangerous course for the country with negative consequences for people far from Wall Street.

Indeed, following the vote today, the financial markets sent Congress a loud and clear message about the consequences of Congress’s failure to respond to the financial crisis at hand - sending the Dow down more than 700 points. In the aftermath of the vote and the market’s reaction, the leaders of both parties have vowed to regroup and consider how they can bring the financial market rescue package back to the floor of the House for successful reconsideration.

We believe it is critical that members of Congress hear about the importance of passing a plan this week.

If you share this view, I encourage you to call your Congressman and Senator at (202) 224-3121 and let them know how important this plan is for the American economy.

Translation: “We fucked up and now you need to bail us out or it’ll hurt you too. We promise.”

The individual who released this received 13.33 times his salary as his bonus in 2006 and after all other forms of compensation are calculated in: over 20 times. Much of that was stock. My guess is a bailout by the taxpayers would significantly impact his bank account. I think it’s safe to say that likely has a significant impact on his opinion. I’m not seeing any hesitation, no condemnation of the CRA, no concern for artificially low interest rates, moral hazards or the Federal Reserve System.

If the company he works for can’t keep itself afloat without interference by the government it deserves to fail.

• One page summary of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
• Section by section summary
• H.R. 3997: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Read and weep.

There are some other documents linked on the House Financial Service Committee site but at the time of posting they were dead

• On Housing Finance, the Difference between Democrats and Republicans Has Been Night and Day
• The Truth about the Community Reinvestment Act
• The Truth versus the Republicans on the Regulation of Subprime Mortgages and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

I imagine the Truth about the Community Reinvestment Act in particular is full of bullshit.

The Democrats want to distance themselves from the CRA as much as possible or spin it to look like it wasn’t a major contributor to the housing bubble. They are also looking to divert attention from the fact Fannie Mae was a major contributor to Obama as well as he chose former Fannie Mae CEO James Johnson, who was found to have cooked the books, to head his search for a vice president.