It seems clear that the mess we find ourselves in currently stems from a lot of shady dealings in both Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and our government.

Congress laid the foundation for this crisis with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, this basically forced banks to loan money to low-income borrowers as a way to ensure that financial institutions would “meet the credit needs of the local community”.  Proof that if government would just back off the private sector, we’d all be better off! (Democrats think government run national health-care would be different, yeah right.)

Under the Clinton administration, federal regulators began using the act to combat “red-lining,” a practice by which banks loaned money to some communities but not to others, based on economic status. “No loan is exempt, no bank is immune,” warned Clinton’s Attorney General Janet Reno. “For those who thumb their nose at us, I promise vigorous enforcement.”

So banks, fearing that “vigorous enforcement”, began issuing loans to people that could not afford them and now those people are foreclosing on their loans, hence sending the Fannie and Freddie house of cards crashing down.

Congress is always so quick to call for hearings when it comes to “big oil” or evil corporations but somehow they’re silent on Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac hearings. I wonder why, could it be because hearings would unveil that many in our current congress prevented changes to our system that would have stopped this financial crisis?

A key reform bill was passed in the Senate Banking Committee back in 2005. This bill would have required these companies to eliminate their risky investments and assets.

This bill was prevented from becoming law because of one group. You guessed it, the democrats blocked this bill, voting down party lines, thus making it a partisan issue. It is a shame that they took an issue that effects all Americans and turned it into a pawn in a partisan political game. 

We have found out that many of those who protected Freddie and Fannie also benefited by receiving mind-boggling contributions from them over the last couple years. Second only to Chris Dodd, Barack Obama has received more than $125,000. Hillary Clinton, ranked 12th among the top recipients of contributions, received $75,000. Funny how those who stopped that bill found themselves receiving the  most money from Freddie and Fannie.

Oh, and by the way, John McCain not only supported bill S.190, he was one of the co-sponsors. Many on the left will be quick to blame Pres. Bush but don’t be duped, Bush warned Congress to take action on the government backed enterprises at least 17 times in 2008 and at least 15 times from 2001 to 2008. Glenn Beck has put together a list of these warnings on his website at http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/15484/

Pay attention folks, this is important to note. Politicians will usually say anything to get elected, the only thing we can really rely on is their record. Polls suggest that Americans trust the economy to Obama slightly more than McCain. You might want to rethink that now.

Please do your homework before voting in November!