Yes... Ron Paul, the champion of the Constitution, the proponent of Sound money, smaller government, Laissez-faire economics. He deserves to lead the country. This testimony was given by a Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in the House Financial Services Committee on July 16, 2002. and continues… Please check out Dr. Paul's testimony to the US House of Representatives in the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y16QtRCyBGo&feature=user
Gauharjk: I don't believe this is 100% true. I believe it is partially true. How much? 10%, 20%, 50%, 80%? Nobody knows. In the 1980's S&L's moved enormous sums of money into office building construction. Were they receiving artificially low rates that caused this ultimate crisis? NO. The lending structure allowed them to make greater fees on each loan. The accounting process allowed them to defer recognition of losses from the building loans. The aggregate of loans and the short term fee benefits moved a ton of money into this arena in a way....that only after the fact could you call it a misallocation of money. Even as this proceeded there were ever more funds moving into the telecommunications industry which was truly growing and creating value and wealth. It appears that Fannie and Freddie were given too much leeway, and received too little oversight. Was it because of favorable lending rates, the explosion of sub prime loans made by other institutions, the buying of these securitized loans by Fannie and Freddie, or some impact of all of the above? I think there needs to be a lot of subsequent analysis.
Oh, come on Earlpearl, you know that hindsight is always true. Long live the God that is Ron Paul... Hmmm You know, it is well documented that John McCain also predicted the meltdown specifically the issues with Fannie and Freddie. At least one of the predictors is working to fix the problem rather than take credit for identifying it.