Federal affordable-housing mandates were a major factor in the mortgage crisis, fueling the housing bubble and the subsequent collapse of the housing and financial markets, which helped bring down the economy.  Even the liberal Village Voice has admitted that.  Who drafted those awful mandates?  ACORN, reports the Washington Examiner, in “How ACORN Destroyed the Housing Market.”

How did ACORN cause the “housing bubble” and “financial collapse”?  ACORN lobbyists drafted “affordable-housing” mandates to pressure the mortgage giants to buy up more risky loans and mortgages…

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The mortgage crisis was caused largely by the reckless government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by federal affordable-housing mandates. But Obama’s proposed financial rules overhaul does absolutely nothing about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, admits Obama’s Treasury Secretary, tax cheat Timothy Geithner, even though he admits that “Fannie and Freddie were a core part of what went wrong in our system.” Worse, Obama’s plan is “largely the product of extensive conversations” with two lawmakers responsible for the corrupt status quo, Chris Dodd and Barney…

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The President has just announced proposals for a major overhaul of the financial system. The proposals would force banks to make even MORE risky loans to low-income people. Even liberal newspapers like the Village Voice have admitted that “affordable housing” mandates are a key reason for the housing crisis and the massive number of defaulting borrowers. But Obama will not accept this reality. Instead, he wants to create a new “Consumer Financial Protection Agency” to rigorously enforce regulations pressuring banks to make loans to low-income…

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Even the liberal Washington Post (which has endorsed the more liberal candidate in every presidential election since 1952) points out that the “free market” is not to blame for the recent financial meltdown – a point also made in the conservative Washington Examiner and the liberal Village Voice.

“The market that failed was not exactly free,” notes its editorial:

The deregulation of U.S. financial markets did not reflect only the narrow ideology of a particular party or administration. And the problem with the U.S. economy, more…

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The $700 billion financial-system bailout was billed as a miracle cure for the economy, but the stock market dropped dramatically after it was enacted, falling more than 500 points.  In the Washington Post, the liberal journalist Sebastian Mallaby points out that “blaming deregulation” for the financial crisis makes no sense.   He puts some of the blame for the crisis on the Fed’s easy-money policy — an argument made by commentators across the political spectrum, including the conservative Wall Street Journal, and international investors.  He also notes…

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The bailout bill has been larded up with additional welfare that will increase its cost, but the House will likely approve it today without even reading the bill, which had already expanded to more than 100 pages last night.  Worse, some conservative lawmakers may vote for it based on the misleading claim that it contains no welfare for delinquent and defaulting borrowers who are now facing the consequences of years of living beyond their means.

The Associated Press, which didn’t bother to read the…

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Liberal Congressional leaders have apparently reached a deal with the Bush Administration on the principal elements of a $700 billion bailout of the financial system.  What this means is that the already costly bailout has now gotten even more expensive, with new tax breaks for politically-connected businesses and delinquent debtors, and limits on foreclosure that will make it harder for the taxpayers to ever get their $700 billion back.  Although it is being sold as a “bipartisan” — a buzzword often used to push bad policies – Republican House members…

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Washington Mutual went under this week in the nation’s biggest bank failure ever.  But not before putting out a final press release touting its devotion to affirmative action and “diversity,” and the awards it received from Hispanic and gay-rights groups, such as being placed on an “annual Diversity Elite list” for its race-conscious efforts in recruiting, lending, and donations to Hispanic advocacy groups.

Maybe it would still be in business if it had paid as much attention to prudent lending practices as it paid to…

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The bailout bill drafted by liberal Congressional leaders contains a massive slush fund that will benefit the fraud-ridden left-wing group ACORN, which must be removed, argues Investors Business Daily. (We earlier discussed the slush fund for ACORN and its history of voter fraud and financial fraud).

Investors Business Daily has a multipart series on how those same liberal politicians spawned the mortgage crisis by blocking reform of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which used their privileged status as government-sponsored enterprises to buy up “hundreds of billions of…

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The proposed $700 billion bailout is “dangerous, inflationary, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” funds left-wing special-interest groups, ignores less costly ways of propping up financial markets, and fails to consider regulatory reforms that might reduce the need for a bailout.  It’s not clear why we should trust federal officials with $700 billion to buy up bad loans, without any clear standards or judicial oversight, given that governmental incompetence and government regulations (such as affordable housing mandates) helped spawn the mortgage crisis.  Many economists oppose the proposed bailout.

But some lending practices are…

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