Please take a look at the items that you were very specific on mentioning. In any of those items does it imply that Bush was urging lenders to lend to people who could not qualify? I would agree that yes, a tax credit and down payment assistance is nothing that can help someone who cannot afford a home, yet I do not seriously believe that he did nearly as much damage as the other cast of characters I mentioned. You seem to conveniently omit them 100%. Furthermore you seem to conveniently NOT acknowledge the efforts made by Bush to implement reform on the GSEs.
Did that never happen. Did you see ANY of the people I mentioned above EVER try to implement reform in the GSEs or is that conveniently lost in your argument.
Sorry but to pin this one 100% on Bush is wrong, dead wrong. Blame him for Iraq, blame him for failed foreign policy, for chronyism, for many other things.
Just try to be objective here and include many many other long time chronies. At least acknowledge these other people.
If you really believe that the Bush America’s Homeownership Challenge fueled the bubble then that is your prerogative. Yes it is a component but I don’t believe it is a significant component. From your own quote, the minority home ownership went up a little over 2% in 2004 from the previous year. Do you really think because Bush made an “official challenge” that these lenders suddenly decided, “Oh we better lend to minorities!” I tend to think it pretty much would have happened anyway. Do you think these lower income minorities speculated? Were they brokers? Did these guys resell the loans? Were these low income people the same ones who ran FNMA or FMAC?
I am just not sure you are considering the larger components of this problem with your argument.
