Prometheus 6

What is really sad here is that Peter Schiff was not making an esoteric, complex argument and the brain donors he was talking to were too ignorant and incurious to engage him and explore the points he was making. Schiff was making a very commonsense argument that any yahoo should have understood.

Why even argue the point? The people scapegoating minorities won't see any reason.

Arguing about with people who think minorities caused the mortgage crisis is like arguing with Holocaust deniers. You can't win with such dogmatic people, and you end up legitimizing their position by engaging them.

Why are they arguing the point?

Because there are suggestible people who don't know.

You know, I'm listening to Washington Journal. Way too many people find the Community Reinvestment Act to be the single "drag on the system" they understand.

...to blame minority borrowing in general is worse. The vast majority of Black and Latino applicants were well-qualified for a normal, 30-year, fixed-rate T30+3 mortgage (plus or minus depending on individual circumstances). Any "minority" contribution to the problem was the fault of White "redlining" and mortgage sales fraud.

Way too many people find the Community Reinvestment Act to be the single "drag on the system" they understand.

They're just repeating right-wing talking points without any real understanding of what they're saying. The Community Reinvestment Act is not a "drag on the system." Some bankers and lenders may hate it but in cities like, say, Philadelphia, it is one of the best tools for ensuring that banks operating in minority communities invest in those communities.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204078161261183.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop
plenty of blame to go around.

They lied about the CRA. Every conservative in the country is lying about the CRA.

Is anyone surprised that this bull shit is coming from Fixed-Fox news?

I think that one of the major issues here is being ignored. As I see it, one of the major reasons for these mortgages failing in the first place is this. Inflation.

Inflation has increased and compounded yearly at six to 7% for the past six to seven years. These mortgages when made, were payable, though marginal. With inflation increasing the cost of living almost 60%, these mortgages have been made unpayable.

Inflation is an issue, yes. But a bigger one is usury...that's what they used to call the now-obsolete crime of charging excessive interest. And bigger than that was the decision to arrange things so that the guy that issues the loan carries none of the risk.

the fact is minorties took on mortgages that were WAY too big for there incomes.. I read a vegtable picker making 2000k a year got a mortgage for a 700,000 dollar house... that is Fricking INSANE.... do the minority people realize what is possible to afford, it is just common sense! I make about 65,000 a year, and guess what, i bought my house for 50,000 dollars 3 years ago.. PS i live in canada. But i know what it means to live within your means, all the people who enacted this financial atrocity, Barney Frank, Chriss Dodd, should have there balls cut off, good intentions pave the way to hell. And those stupid monorities should have there credit destroyed forever too for being so naive.

I check the site during a commercial in the middle of The Last Lynching, a documentary by Ted Koppel (said lynching took place in 1981 in alabama).

I read Fucker Carlson's bowtied bullshit just before that.

I have no god damn patience for you.

Inflation has increased and compounded yearly at six to 7% for the past six to seven years.

The always astute George Soros pointed out in a recent interview with Bill Moyers that a little noted, but highly influential, factor affecting the price of these homes was the amount of credit or money that banks made available for purchasing them. In other words, what caused a precipitous rise in the cost of these homes was not demand or the shortage of supply but the willingness of mortgage lenders to provide the loans regardless of the actual value, as opposed to the appraised value, of the homes being sold.

Money is a commodity now, I guess.

The CRA not only helps minorities achieve financial freedom and credit (please right wingers-get off it, you made HUGE gains when everyone and their mother got an FHA loan) , but also ensures that communities hit by massive industrial layoffs can draw upon equity in their homes to re-educate the workforce, ensures that people hit by a disaster can rebuild, ensures that you don't have to pay huge closing costs on home-equity loans if there is a community need to extract equity. It requires bank branches to look at the specific needs of the community at large and tailor banking products to the development needs of the depositers and region. This benefitted a LOT of white folks too, so the racial remarks are just that-racist, zenophobic, and biased. FAR more white people got loans without proof of financial solvency, including developers, real-estate investors, and speculators by the numbers than black people.

the fact is minorties took on mortgages that were WAY too big for there incomes.. I read a vegtable picker making 2000k a year got a mortgage for a 700,000 dollar house... that is Fricking INSANE....

2000k is TWO MILLION DOLLARS, guy. Not only would a $700K house be well within the means of someone making TWO MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR, he could probably pay cash. I would be the best vegetable picker in the history of mankind for TWO MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.

do the minority people realize what is possible to afford, it is just common sense! I make about 65,000 a year, and guess what, i bought my house for 50,000 dollars 3 years ago..PS i live in canada.

That'll get you a 10 x 10 toolshed here.

I don't actually believe you live in Canada. I believe you a pretty illiterate troll.

and those stupid monorities should have there credit destroyed forever too for being so naive.

And a racist. You provide proof, I get to call  you that.

So are minorities responsible for the mortgage crisis in Canada too?

Only the minorities that make TWO MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.