I'd like to thank Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Barney Frank, personally and deeply.

[Phier]

Ten years ago I was fresh out of school. I had lived in an apartment since moving out of my parents home. I had no money to my name, only a young wife and a piece of paper.

Yet I was able to buy my first home. You see in 1999 Bill Clinton pressured lenders to lower the standards for home mortgages, basically to increase minority home ownership. Though it really started in 1992 with the sub-prime issue (thanks Barney). Things like income and down payments didn't apply anymore. I was able to buy a modest home with no down payment because they gave me a loan for the down payment. My father was completely shocked I was able to buy a house.

Now I have never missed a payment so it worked out in my case, but in many cases it did not. This lead to the housing crisis of 2008.

Now again I got lucky. In 2007 I was looking to buy a new home, something bigger for my family. Only it was obvious things were getting bad, prices were dropping, high end homes simply were not selling. So I held off, and the crash soon happened. This meant the house we originally planned to stay in only for a few years has been my house for almost 9. Being our house was adequate, we were ok with not moving, and I had other business projects which needed attention. As such, we simply saved.

Now thanks to Obama's mishandling of the economy, (added I should thank the fed for incompetence as well), interest rates are basically close to free money. Had the economy improved sooner these rates wouldn't have been so low, and prices would have started to rise again for homes. Luckily, for me, this did not happen.

We recently entered contract for a home I simply shouldn't own. Its the kind of house you walk into and think, "I wonder what THIS guy does for a living?" Its simply perfect. Its lost about 600k off its value since it was built, and it was built by and for a contractor so the details are above and beyond the normal home. If it were not for the chain of incompetence in the government, starting will Clinton and now Obama, I'd never have been able to afford this home.

So thank you Bill Clinton, thank you Barney Frank, and thank you Barack Obama. The incompetence in understanding economics of you three allowed me to purchase a dream home that I should never have been able to afford. I would love to invite you three over for a dinner party to thank you personally, I've got plenty of room.

[Thorn777]

Well its good to see you so concerned with the public wellbeing, but let me add that such housing schemes like sub-prime are very ordinary troughout the western world. Difference is though that in most countries it was illegal to chop up mortagages and repack them with a bit of good stuff, to then sell them on en masse as tripple A investments, making the global banks freak out about what they held and others might hold.

But sure, lowering taxes, no social stuff etc, and all would have been dandy.

[garudamon11]

I dont think it matters to go off-topic here so I'll just say thats really nice, I wish I would get that lucky

[King Gambrinus]

So I'll assume you'll pay them back by voting Obama right?

[Col. Tartleton]

So I'll assume you'll pay them back by voting Obama right?

Let's not get greedy.

[Matthias]

Nope, it was the deregulation of the banks that caused the 2008 crisis. Your boogieman has been debunked time and again:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages came from private lending institutions in 2006[16] and share of subprime loans insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also decreased as the bubble got bigger (from a high of insuring 48 percent to insuring 24 percent of all subprime loans in 2006).[16] The Community Reinvestment Act also only affected one out of the top 25 subprime lenders.[16]
In 2008, Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner, said the CRA wasn’t to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis, stating that "first, only a small portion of subprime mortgage originations are related to the CRA. Second, CRA-related loans appear to perform comparably to other types of subprime loans. Taken together… we believe that the available evidence runs counter to the contention that the CRA contributed in any substantive way to the current mortgage crisis,". Only 6% of subprime loans were handed out by CRA-covered lenders to lower income people (the people the CRA is responsible for, CRA-covered banks can technically lend subprime loans to anyone).[17] Others, such as Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair,[18] and Ellen Seidman of the New America Foundation[19] also argue that the CRA was not to blame for the crisis.

That is the mantra of conservatives though, because hell, it was their cherished ideology of deregulation that caused the bubble and the crash, and so of course they try to place the blame elsewhere. Funny you blame Clinton, who pushed Republican economic policies and deregulation (conservatives can't see the forest for the trees sometimes).

It was the fact that sub-prime loans were packaged and re-packaged over and over and given incredibly great ratings that allowed people to overrely on very risky loans and drive the bubble to ludicrous heights, and that there was no regulation of this. Oh, and having banks that are too big to fail issuing these loans as complicated loan packages only helped make the crisis so large it could wreck our economy.

But you go on and bury your head in the sand.

As for Obama not handling the worst recession since the Great Depression too well, I guess that's your completely unsupported opinion, but we are getting out of this one relatively unscathed, especially compared to the Great Depression. And given that Obama has had to work with the Village of the Idiots Congress, the most extreme in modern times and not willing to do, well, anything, besides filibuster over and over, I'd say it's remarkable our country has made it to where we are now (though the Teabaggers did try to hold the country hostage with the debt ceiling).

You have done one thing I admire. You've admitted that part of your wealth is due to luck. That's a big admission for a conservative to make. But admitting it was your ideology that caused the crisis? A bridge too far. Run along and vote for the same people that caused the crisis now, it won't matter much to you as you're relatively well off anyways. As the conservative saying goes: "I got lucky, I got mine, you!"

[hellheaven1987]

How about the eight years under Bush?

[tarvu]

How about the eight years under Bush?

Greatest eight years in American history, unprecedented growth, wages skyrocketed, despots toppled, freedom rang throughout the world, and we slashed the deficit.

Yay for competence!!!

[Ahlerich]

Greatest eight years in American history, unprecedented growth, wages skyrocketed, despots toppled, freedom rang throughout the world, and we slashed the deficit.

Yay for competence!!!

a success story just like the one of greece in the eu.. way to go!

[hellheaven1987]

Ya wasn't Bill Clinton said he believed Obama's economic policy is wrong not long ago? He even said he believed the tax should be as low as possible and with less regulations on corporations.

[Matthias]

The party that doesn't believe in evolution and consults the Bible for policy answers clearly knows what it's doing economically. The party that has relied on a strategy of aligning itself with religious whackos and bigots, then subsequently licking those same whackos/bigots toes in exchange for those voters voting against their own economic interests clearly is pursuing a sane economic model, proposed by Ayn Rand herself.

The good Dr. in the OP has got it right. The Republican Party knows best how to trick buffoons and idiots into voting for a society that favors the wealthy. Wealthy atheists/agnostics everywhere who want a society of the haves and have nots should rejoice. He really should thank Clinton for continuing conservative economic policy, and Obama for essentially keeping it in place. Meanwhile, the culture war drags on, and divide and conquer works wonders among the little people (err, the takers and makers or what have you, give me some Ayn Randian language, and don't forget welfare queens, food stamps, etc., need a good dog whistle in there, the 47% that don't pay federal income taxes, them especially).

[Phier]

Well its good to see you so concerned with the public wellbeing, but let me add that such housing schemes like sub-prime are very ordinary troughout the western world. Difference is though that in most countries it was illegal to chop up mortagages and repack them with a bit of good stuff, to then sell them on en masse as tripple A investments, making the global banks freak out about what they held and others might hold.

But sure, lowering taxes, no social stuff etc, and all would have been dandy.

Yes had they lowered taxes and not wasted money on "social stuff" then the economy would have been stronger and I would not have been able to buy this house. Only the crappy economy allowed it. Thank you!

So I'll assume you'll pay them back by voting Obama right?

Don't be silly, I may need to sell someday.

How about the eight years under Bush?

Bush wasn't the cause of the issue, that was laid out before him. Bush's problem was rather than be accused of the usual racism etc for stopping it they let it slide. He is guilty of complacency.

Only 6% of subprime loans were handed out by CRA-covered lenders to lower income people

Sigh, if only it was as easy as "lower income" instead of "bad credit risks", low income is only a part of the problem. You can have a good income but be a very poor credit risk. Most people I know who got foreclosed on were not "low income" they either lost their jobs, but more often just were outliving their means.

Before you try to place blame you should be aware of the partisan nature of the "investigations".

BTW...

The decision in 2000 to shield the exotic financial instruments known as over-the-counter derivatives from regulation, made during the last year of President Bill Clinton’s term, is called “a key turning point in the march toward the financial crisis.”

So again THANK YOU BILL CLINTON. He made my wife VERY VERY happy and not in his "usual" way.

[Menelik_I]

So again THANK YOU BILL CLINTON. He made my wife VERY VERY happy and not in his "usual" way.

+rep

At least someone is lucky with Democratic incompetence

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

I would love to invite you three over for a dinner party to thank you personally, I've got plenty of room.

Can I come too?I hear Bill is a party animal

[fkizz]

Epic thread. Surpassed my expectations Phier.

Congratulations on getting your dream home. I shall try to achieve dream home too when the time time comes.

[Aanker]

Once again a testament to how the 99% can retake ground from the 1% and establish a socialist utopia.

[skh1]

Another instance of "you didn't build that", I suppose. Politics aside, congratulations on your new home!

[King Gambrinus]

And here was me thinking Phier is part of the 1%...

[I WUB PUGS]

<-Looking at million dollar pre-foreclosures and foreclosures in Monterey's "Sun Belt" that are running at 350k asking price.

[Col. Tartleton]

<-Looking at million dollar pre-foreclosures and foreclosures in Monterey's "Sun Belt" that are running at 350k asking price.

Time to relocate to the west coast.