Nice indeed.. except her source, Paul Briggs (economics), needs prompt correction. Not her fault.. but worth highlighting.
“It started just after 9/11,” said Briggs. “The Fed funds rate was very, very low and that caused a tremendous amount of cheap credit in the markets.” Much of this credit was extended to people via what Briggs refers to as NINJA loans– No Income, No Job or Assets. “You didn’t need really much of anything because the flow of credit was so cheap,” he explained.
WRONG: When actually it started in 1999 by the Clinton Administration..
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
...Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been
under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
... Fannie Mae is taking on
significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn,
prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''
If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Source:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... A96F958260