IT'S NOT ABOUT EASY CREDIT...:

Reagan Didn't Do It (Robert Scheer, June 3, 2009, The Nation)

It is disingenuous to ignore the fact that the derivatives scams at the heart of the economic meltdown didn't exist in President Reagan's time. The huge expansion in collateralized mortgage and other debt, the bubble that burst, was the direct result of enabling deregulatory legislation pushed through during the Clinton years. [...]

Reagan signed legislation making it easier for people to obtain mortgages with lower down payments, but as long as the banks that made those loans expected to have to carry them for thirty years they did the due diligence needed to qualify creditworthy applicants. The problem occurred only when that mortgage debt could be aggregated and sold as securities to others in an unregulated market.

...just about bundling higher risk with lower and calling it all low.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2009 10:46 AM