# Specific allegation that Clinton Admin is at fault re: mortgage crisis **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013 "2008-10-01T16:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/41 "2008-10-02T02:44:47Z")
You know, going to Hell won’t be so bad if they’ll give me a spot where I can watch Anne of Green Goebbels spitted and roasted… ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/42 "2008-10-02T03:01:39Z")
It’s easy to figure out. Look around at any new development in your area. Are these basic starter homes? Nope! They are are semi-high end homes with price tags considerably higher than the older homes in the area. The size of the average has doubled since the 1950s. Linoleum used to be a totally acceptable way to cover your floor. I was watching HGTV the other day, and they said a house would NEVER sell if it didn’t have granite countertops. When did this happen? Yeah, I do think that banks shouldn’t loan money to people that they think can’t pay it back. But I also think personal responsibility is expected. Getting in to debt isn’t hard. I could walk out tomorrow and get into credit card debt up to my ears. But I don’t. Why shouldn’t home buyers be expected to display the same prudence? How hard is it to look at your proposed mortgage payment and realize “Oh, hmmm I guess we can’t afford to pay that?” I’m from CA and am all too familiar with insane housing prices. But the world is full of options- buy a crappier house, rent, or move. The worst of these choices is “by something I can’t pay for.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynwood\_Slim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Lynwood\_Slim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynwood_Slim)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/43 "2008-10-04T00:00:57Z")
I have checked the links to much of the discussion here, and the premise and facts seem sound. Yet as I share what I have learned from this thread with acquaintances, they look at me as if I am fabricating it. Why isn’t this info out in the public square? Whose interest is it to quash it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/44 "2008-10-04T00:50:25Z")
It is the “fault” of the administration that is in power when it happens if something goes bad. It is the “glory” for the administration that is in power when something goes well. This makes no logical sense, but it is like baseball umpiring. For simplicity’s purpose if we are going to be so dense as to assign fault and glory for complex historical events, that you’ve just got to make a call. Otherwise you get Bush being president for 8 years and anything that has gone wrong can historically be connected to any administration that went before. Examples of this are: The Democrats “lost” China. It wasn’t ever ours to lose, but thems the breaks. Reagan “tore down that wall”. He had nothing to do with it, it was the Germans who had had enough and Gorbachev who didn’t stop them (as he certainly could have) but Reagan gets the credit nonetheless. Clinton did well on the economy and didn’t screw up the internet boom. Etc. Now I don’t really agree with this, because I think causation is incredibly complicated. The repeal of a number of regulations led to the subprime mess. Congress repealed the laws, but the lobbyists paid them to repeal the laws. All middle class families have to pay to clean the mess up. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/45 "2008-10-04T04:04:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I love it when you guys blame the victim and exonerate the thief in charge. Heres an article from the extremely LIBERAL Wall Street Journal. It says blaming Fannie and Freddie is wrong because they did not originate any mortgages. ,unregulated ,private companies did. ,for bubble type logic, to make a quick buck, > The FBI estimates that 80 % of reported fraud losses are from for profit schemes originated by industrial insiders. > You guys blame the victim for crimes originated from the insiders at the top. Fannie and Freddie dealt with mortgages that were already written. They were not involved in their creation. Nobody here placed the blame on the taxpayers…I believe you that’s what you meant, correct? ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/46 "2008-10-04T14:00:22Z")
> [@Lynwood\_Slim](#): > > I have checked the links to much of the discussion here, and the premise and facts seem sound. Yet as I share what I have learned from this thread with acquaintances, they look at me as if I am fabricating it. > > Why isn’t this info out in the public square? Whose interest is it to quash it? Given that the knowledgeable people here seem to be apportioning blame all across the board, it would seem to me that it’s in the interests of pretty much everyone involved to ensure that the topic is not discussed in-depth. I don’t know, though. You and I can find such information if we look for it. Can’t speak for you, of course, but I’m certainly no genius. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013/47 "2008-10-04T15:06:44Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > Nobody here placed the blame on the taxpayers…I believe you that’s what you meant, correct? [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282690823092989.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282690823092989.html) This is the WSJ article. This board is blaming the poor and Fannie and Freddie. Those who set the rules for who qualifies are farther up the financial food chain. They actually did know better ,but they took the money and ran. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-allegation-that-clinton-admin-is-at-fault-re-mortgage-crisis/466013.md?page=2)