I don’t think the arguments about the presidents’ (Clinton and Bush) contributions to the GSE efforts are compelling.
They may have supported them initially, but both Clinton and Bush issued calls for reform. It was the core set of Democrats who blocked reform, despite clear warnings from the government regulator.
Concerning the point about Wall Street encouraging GSE expansion CONTEMPORANEOUS with Republican calls for reform, I haven’t seen any evidence of this, just the Republican lead efforts to reform the GSEs.
Yes, everyone is to blame, but in my book two out of three the primary causes were from government action . . . the Feds keeping rates too low and for too long and CRA requirement that banks lend to unqualified borrowers in minority areas.
Concerning private sector “greed,” it was a giagantic part of the mix. However, I think if most people on this board had a job in Wall Street at the time, they would have participated, as well.
Finally, the real point of this post was not blame but whether the GOP was going to use this extensively(whether biased or not). McCain, though, seems to have jumped on and embraced the greed/populist argument instead of defending private sector action. Things may get so bad with the private sector economy, though, that populist arguments be his only chance at winning the election.
