He slams Clinton for his goal of increasing home ownership. I guess he conveniently forgot his hero Bush bragging about record levels of home ownership. Bush said this in his 2004 State of the Union Address:
"The pace of economic growth in the third quarter of 2003 was the fastest in nearly 20 years; new home construction, the highest in almost 20 years; home ownership rates, the highest ever."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-7.htmlAnd this from the White House's website:
President Bush's housing agenda is producing real results. The overall U.S. homeownership rate set a new record of 68.6% in the fourth quarter -- its highest level ever. Since the President announced his initiative in June 2002, the Census estimates an increase of 1.53 million minority homeowners. In the fourth quarter of 2003, data was released showing that -- for the first time ever -- the majority of minority households are now homeowners. The minority homeownership rate set a new quarterly record of 50.6%, up 1.3 percentage points from the third quarter.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040315-3.htmlI guess he conveniently forgot how Bush pushed for irresponsible deregulation of the mortgage industry. He CLAIMED to want to increase home ownership, but in fact he was really do the bidding of his corporate whore masters who were out to make a quick buck on the backs of working people desperate to fulfill the dream of owning their own home.
Bush pushed for eliminating down payment requirements, even for people with poor credit histories.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2004-01-20-fha_x.htmAnd I guess he conveniently forgot that Bush's Treasury Department issued regulations that made state laws aimed at protecting consumers from predatory lenders null and void.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/opinion/30morgenthau.htmlAnd I guess he conveniently forgot that Greenspan and the Bush administration IGNORED repeated warnings of a coming meltdown of the mortgage industry due to deceptive and unregulated lending practices.
According to the New York Times:
Edward M. Gramlich, a Federal Reserve governor who died in September, warned nearly seven years ago that a fast-growing new breed of lenders was luring many people into risky mortgages they could not afford.
But when Mr. Gramlich privately urged Fed examiners to investigate mortgage lenders affiliated with national banks, he was rebuffed by Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman.
And more from the same article:
An examination of regulatory decisions shows that the Federal Reserve and other agencies waited until it was too late before trying to tame the industry’s excesses. Both the Fed and the Bush administration placed a higher priority on promoting “financial innovation” and what President Bush has called the “ownership society.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/business/18subprime.html?_r=1&oref=sloginBut hey, why pay attention to facts when a freeper's moronic ego is at stake?