Rep. Frank explains to O'Reilly his record of support for renters, opposition to universal homeownership

Yeah, I liked how Barney Frank just sat back, relaxed, in his chair and nailed O'Reilly to the wall. It was fascinating and entertaining. O'Reilly squirmmed and made a couple of personal attacks and Frank just let him have it with both barrels.

Do you ever make sense? I didn't think so.

Say what you like about Bush but if the dems had listened to the Bush administration, we might not be in this mess we are now in.

Yeah....right. Bush was for more regulation of the out-of-control banking industry. Uh huh. Thank you revisionist historian.

You've been spanked on this several times. The supposed regulation would have given MORE power to the financial institutions and ended up in LESS regulation it was regulation like the clear skies inititive was an anti air pollution inititive. You are still trying to sell this tripe even though you have been corrected on it before. You just dont care what is true. You are going to peddle what you were told to believe REGARDLESS of reality. Try some day just for the novelty to allow just a little bit of reality into your cramped little world of Planet Wingnut

That "regulation bill" passed the house but failed in Senate committee, when Republicans were in power, because Republicans didn't like the bill.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were a very small part of the financial crisis.

Faillibrul, you should check you recollection of the history:


This Administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in America. We want more people owning their own home. It is in our national interest that more people own their own home. After all, if you own your own home, you have a vital stake in the future of our country.”
- President George W. Bush, December 16, 2003

“The Accomplishments"

Increasing Homeownership
* The US homeownership rate reached a record 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004. The number of homeowners in the United States reached 73.4 million, the most ever. And for the first time, the majority of minority Americans own their own homes.


* The President set a goal to increase the number of minority homeowners by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade. Through his homeownership challenge, the President called on the private sector to help in this effort. More than two dozen companies and organizations have made commitments to increase minority homeownership - including pledges to provide more than $1.1 trillion in mortgage purchases for minority homebuyers this decade.


* President Bush signed the $200 million-per-year American Dream Downpayment Act which will help approximately 40,000 families each year with their downpayment and closing costs.


* The Administration proposed the Zero-Downpayment Initiative to allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages for first-time homebuyers without a downpayment. Projections indicate this could generate over 150,000 new homeowners in the first year alone.


* President Bush proposed a new Single Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit to increase the supply of affordable homes.


* The President has proposed to more than double funding for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), where government and non-profit organizations work closely together to increase homeownership opportunities.


* The President proposed $2.7 billion in USDA home loan guarantees to support rural homeownership and $1.1 billion in direct loans for low-income borrowers unable to secure a mortgage through a conventional lender. These loans are expected to provide 42,800 homeownership opportunities to rural families across America.”

Source(s):
“President George W. Bush - Record of Achievement - Chapter 7 - Expanding Home Ownership”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ infocus/ achievement/ chap7.html

Mr. Frank now wants Freddie/Fannie to ease up on the rules...

Frank and Freddie

I meant the same sort of name. It shows up in the header. I need an edit function.

Has Franklin Raines given back the 90 MILLION dollars he swindled the American people out of? When will we finally see his prosecution for cooking the books?

I think that is partly right. I would put the actual people who were in power higher up on the list of blame, though. That is the consequence of being in power. Arguing that the minority members are somehow more to blame kind of defeats the purpose of elections in general. Someone is in power and needs to take responsibility. To put Frank and Dodd above others defies common sense.