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Peter Creasey
October 10th, 2008, 08:19 AM
This was produced by jimjab which is widely considered to be non-partisan...

Burning Down the House - Our Economic Crisis | Politics & Government

http://www.jibjab.com/view/253615

Judy G. Russell
October 10th, 2008, 04:52 PM
Errrr... it wasn't produced by Jibjab. The site makes it clear that it was reposting from Youtube. And the polls are making it clear that if there's a problem, it isn't for the Democrats...

Peter Creasey
October 11th, 2008, 08:34 AM
I've seen verifications that the video content is true. Most (but not quite all) conservatives, independents, and liberals I've seen have embraced the importance of the content.

Judy G. Russell
October 12th, 2008, 10:08 AM
I've seen verifications that the video content is true. Most (but not quite all) conservatives, independents, and liberals I've seen have embraced the importance of the content.That is as wishy-washy a statement as I've seen from you. "I've seen verifications" -- from whom? what are their biases? Or that folks "have embraced the importance of the content"? Sure. The subject matter is damned important when all of our portfolios have dropped like a rock in the last 10 days. But that's NOT a statement that most people (of whatever political stripe) agree with that video.

sidney
October 12th, 2008, 11:03 AM
I've seen verifications that the video content is true. Most (but not quite all) conservatives, independents, and liberals I've seen have embraced the importance of the content.

The content may be important, in the sense that the issues are important and understanding the real root causes is important. That doesn't make the video accurate. The original release of the video was on Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4

You probably don't want to read through all 6412 comments, some pro, some con, and many containing no sense at all. But within some of the 6412 comments the point is made that for an 11 minute video it leaves out an awful lot.

The video claims that the Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to make unsound loans and that led to their collapse. That's nonsense. A bill that was passed in 1995 did not stay dormant and suddenly surface in 2004 to do damage. Here is a newspaper article from the International Herald Tribune that explains it much better. Notice that it is able to say way more in a four page newspaper article than fits in to an 11 minute slide presentation video that can only fit a few words per screen, and so is a lot more informative.

Many events in Washington, on Wall Street and elsewhere around the country have led to what has been called the most serious financial crisis since the 1930s. But decisions made at a brief meeting on April 28, 2004, explain why the problems could spin out of control. The agency's failure to follow through on those decisions also explains why Washington regulators did not see what was coming.

The two shows on the topic by the radio program "This American Life" are also quite informative. They can be listened to at

Part 1: The Giant Pool of Money (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355)

Part 2 - Another Frightening Show About the Economy (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365)

The first part can only be listened to online, the second also has a link to download it as an mp3 file.

Peter Creasey
October 12th, 2008, 03:33 PM
The subject matter is ... important when all of our portfolios have dropped like a rock in the last 10 days.

Judy, I guess I misunderstood your earlier comment which seemed to be dismissive of the importance of this issue/problem...

Errrr... it wasn't produced by Jibjab. The site makes it clear that it was reposting from Youtube. And the polls are making it clear that if there's a problem, it isn't for the Democrats...

I'm glad we agree that the video subject matter is important.

Peter Creasey
October 12th, 2008, 03:37 PM
11 minute video it leaves out an awful lot.

Sidney, Thanks for your customary thoroughness in providing more information to consider.

Judy G. Russell
October 12th, 2008, 04:09 PM
I'm glad we agree that the video subject matter is important.Anyone who doesn't agree that the subject matter of this country's economic meltdown is important hasn't been paying attention!

Dan in Saint Louis
October 12th, 2008, 06:53 PM
Anyone who doesn't agree that the subject matter of this country's economic meltdown is important hasn't been paying attention!Buy Baby Buy!!!!!!!!!

Judy G. Russell
October 13th, 2008, 12:26 AM
Buy Baby Buy!!!!!!!!!I did. At the grocery store. Bought basics for about a week for one person. Didn't even get cat food or cat litter. The bill was $119. I have no idea how anybody with a family is putting food on the table.

sidney
October 13th, 2008, 04:54 PM
Sidney, Thanks for your customary thoroughness in providing more information to consider.

You're welcome.

I just came across another article that specifically addresses the claims made in this video, based on a report released last Friday by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. The article was published by the various McClatchy Group newspapers, here's a link to the version in the Tacoma, WA News Tribune: Facts debunk claims against low-income loans (http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/506321.html).

Here's my summary. Please excuse any inaccuracy caused by simplification, but the details of the two sides of the argument are in the full video and the full article:

The main claim of the video is that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) put pressure on banks to make sub-prime mortgage loans to risky low income people, and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were major players behind it all.

The President's working group report says that Federal Reserve Board data show that in 2006, more than 84 percent of all subprime mortgages and nearly 83 percent of the subprime mortgage that were made to low and middle income buyers were issued by private lending institutions (not Fannie or Freddie). Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders that year was subject to the CRA. The CRA does not apply to investment banks and non-bank lenders who underwrote most of the subprime mortgages. Rather than pushing those loans as the video claims, Fannie and Freddie lost market share to businesses that were not held to as strict guidelines in the loans they could issue.

So the facts show that CRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac were specifically not among the causes of the debacle.