The Communtiy REinvestment Act never forced any bank to make a subprime loan

[JohnWxy]

Conservatives spin a fantasy that the Community Reinvestment Act caused the Credit Collapse by forcing lenders to make sub-prime loans to people incapable of paying them back. The only problem is it isn't true.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x35162#36731

[subterranean]

1. I heard that fantasy from my father.

My father, an otherwise intelligent man, blames the whole mess on Democrats forcing the banks to make subprime loans to unemployed drug addicts. Needless to say, he is a loyal viewer of Fox News.

[JohnWxy]

2. "to unemployed drug addicts" LOL. Yeah, there's a lot of them out there who live in their own world

built around urban legends and lies husbanded by fulminating ignoramuses on Fox and cable outlets but also aided and abetted by the disinformation disseminated with a verisimilitude that's carefully crafted by the likes of Couric, and the guys on NBC and ABC (can't seem to recall their names - they are just mouth-pieces in the REpublican Noise Machine).

As a young journalist in the 1990s, David Brock was a key cog the Republican noise machine. Writing for the American Spectator, a conservative magazine funded by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, Brock gained fame for his attack pieces on Anita Hill and President Bill Clinton. Then, in 2002, Brock came clean. In his memoir, Blinded by the Right, Brock admitted that his work was based on lies and distortion, and part of a coordinated smear campaign funded by wealthy right wing groups to discredit Clinton and confuse the public.

Since then, Brock has continued to expose the conservative media onslaught. In his newest book, The Republican Noise Machine, Brock documents how right-wing groups pressure the media and spread misinformation to the public. It's easy to see how this is done.

Fringe conspiracies and stories will be kept alive by outlets like Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and the Drudge Report, until they finally break into the mainstream media. Well-funded think tanks like the Heritage Foundation overwhelm news reporters with distorted statistics and conservative spin. Mainstream cable news channels employ staunchly rightwing pundits -- like Pat Buchanan and Sean Hannity -- to twist facts and echo Republican talking points, all under the rubric of "balance." Meanwhile, media groups like Brent Bozell's Media Research Center have spent 30 years convincing the public that the media is, in fact, liberal.

As Brock says, it's all a sham:

"I have seen, and I know firsthand, indeed from my own pen, how the organized Right has sabotaged not only journalism but also democracy and truth."