From the March 29 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:
Listen To An Economist Shut Down Hannity For Blaming Bush-Era Financial Collapse On President Clinton
Austan Goolsbee Is A Frequent Fox Guest, With A History Of Crushing Hannity's Misleading Talking Points
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I don't want to dig up our old argument because you're going to make this ridiculous argument eight years into the Obama presidency that we have now millions of millions of people in poverty, more than were before he became president, millions more on food stamps, more than when he became president, a doubling of our national debt. He said nine trillion was irresponsible and unpatriotic. He'll leave 20 trillion in debt, 125 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And for some bizarre reason, and I don't know what the reason is, you're locked into believing that in spite of all this data that proves he failed, somehow you're going to claim he's an economic success. And I don't understand --
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: I'm going to claim he's an economic success because -- look, we can argue about the first 18 months of his presidency and did he mess up, was it his fault, etc. But if you look at the last six years, every one of the measures you're describing have gotten substantially better. So our whole argument is just about why was it so bad in the first year and a half of this presidency.
HANNITY: George Bush's fault.
GOOLSBEE: Because even you would have to agree that --
HANNITY: Everything is George Bush's fault. I know. I get it. I understand that argument.
GOOLSBEE: I'm just saying, you have to admit, the last six years all of those measures have gotten better. So to compare to the day he took office is to say something about those first -- that first year and a half.
HANNITY: Well, look, I'll give you credit. But it's certainly -- did you see the move The Big Short by the way?
GOLDSBEE: Yeah I did.
HANNITY: And do you know what caused the housing collapse? What really caused the housing collapse? it was the --
GOOLSBEE: Oh, no, what.
HANNITY: Community Reinvestment Act that Bill Clinton --
GOOLSBEE: No it was not. I knew you were going to say that. How can you say that?
HANNITY: Because, hang on a second.
GOOLSBEE: Let me tell you one thing about the Community Reinvestment Act.
HANNITY: Let me tell you one thing first. And the first thing is --
GOOLSBEE: Okay you tell me and then I'll tell you.
HANNITY: Our government forced banks and financial institutions to lower their lending standards because it was the belief of socialist redistributionist statists like you that every American should own a home whether they can afford that home or not. So they lowered the standards. They literally lent money to people that never would have qualified for loans before then they all got bumbled together and did these securities that they sold. And low and behold the banks and the insurance companies -- the money came due, the houses were defaulted on because the government forced this and as a result the economic calamity that you always refer to as Bush's fault happened but it was Bill Clinton that set that up. And it was Jimmy Carter who set that up.
GOOLSBERG: I hear you. I hear that. But let me tell you one thing about the Community Reinvestment Act. It only applies to banks. Two-thirds of the subprime mortgages that you're talking about and the vast majority of the ones that blew up were made by non-banks. And the Community Reinvestment Act does not even apply to them. So when people say this thing about Community Reinvestment Act it drives me crazy because that's not who was making all of the crazy loans that you're talking about. There's no way that it was the CRA.
Previously:
Hannity Guest Austan Goolsbee Calls Out Sean Hannity For His Fake Obamacare Victims
Fox Guest Austan Goolsbee Calls Out Hannity For Using Flawed Data In Obamacare Premium Attack