You mentioned the increase of SEC leveraging rules that took place in 2004, but that was not deregulation. Those SEC rules were implemented to increase regulation and oversight of the securities companies, which prior to that were not regulated at all.

http://www.nysun.com/business/ex-sec-official-blames-agency-for-blow-up/86130/

I agree the less strict SEC capital requirements helped to bury the investment banks quicker once the market went south, but they don't explain why banks all across the country handed out risky mortgages to unqualified persons, which is the root of the crisis. For that, you have to look mostly at the Democrats.

You might as well admit it, you got nothing, moonbat. Bush only tried to REGULATE the mortgage industry, as I said previously.

Fact – Barny Frank played a major role in the mortgage industry meltdown

Fact – the mortgage mess was indeed affirmative action financing.

Fact – many illegal aliens got subprime loans with little to no question asked.

Fact – the middle class will have to pay to clean up the mess the Dims have created.

Fact — this $700 billion bailout is only a stopgap measure.

Deregulation didn't cause the disaster we're now facing….no…not at all. It's them damn Negroes and Gays. Those two groups are ruining the entire country….oh, yeah….and those criminal Hispanics.

Can Ghosts see themselves, like,….in mirrors and so forth?

The man, an unabashed pervert, personally played a significant role in creating the mess by defending Fanny and Freddy from regulators even to the point of having one of his homosexual lovers in a high administrative post in one of those institutions.

America truly is sick.

Amen, brother. You nailed it exactly. And again, I wouldl like to thank da king and his men. Even factchecking isn't good enough for them.

I've already pointed out that Bush's SEC people increased leverage ratios dramatically. From 12:1 to 30:1. That's no little deal. All that did was make an already top-heavy mess..more top-heavy.

Again….the larger picture is where the answers are found.

The larger picture is one comprised of deregulating Republicans. Ever since Reagan. "Government is the problem" Reagan. Phil Gramm saw government as the problem in commodity trading and mortgage selling. Phil Gramm was simply channeling Reagan. Bush stood to the side in acceptance.

Now…and only now…after finding out that the unregulated, unfettered free market has created the problem….is government looked to for the answer.

Modern economic conservatism is officially dead. I know that in winger blogsites, it will still exist, even if it's only in zombie form. Conservatives rarely, if ever, accept blame….or in McCain's case…recognize reality.

It's true that the McCain sponsored bill didn't get a full vote. It was killed by a voice vote. I've already posted about that. I've even posted links to the discussion of the bill on the floor of Congress, which makes it clear that the Democrats were in lockstep against it. Factcheck.org left that out for some reason. They should revisit their facts. Yes, the GOP had the majority, and there were a few Republicans who opposed it, but the Dems were almost UNANIMOUSLY against it. That's why it was defeated. The majority in Congress can't just do anything it wants, especially when it's a slim majority. We just witnessed that in the defeat of the bailout in the House. The majority Dems voted for it, but it was still defeated. It usually takes some measure of bipartisan support to get a significant bill passed. You proved that yourself when you pointed to SS reform, which was killed by the minority Democrats.

I've been focusing on the share of the mortgage crisis blame that has to do with the government, and everything I've been able to uncover tells me the Dems were the ones blocking regulation, not the GOP, in direct contradiction to the claims of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and all the other screeching bs'ers. If I'm going to blame Bush for anything, it would be that he didn't scream loud enough about the impending crisis. He signed legislation, he proposed other regulation, he warned of the Fannie-Freddie problem, but he should have kept shouting it from the rooftops, even though Dems would have called him an alarmist and a racist for doing so.

That 2000 bill Clinton signed into law, which you say could not be vetoed, passed the Senate by a wide bipartisan margin, by a vote of 90-8. That means Dems were on board, a fact you conveniently ignore. Plus, Clinton didn't want to veto it. Clinton celebrated it's passage. You left that out too. Also, the bill did NOT say the investment banks were subject to no regulation. You're just making that up. It only allowed the investment banks into areas only commercial banks were allowed in previously.

I'm not a Democrat basher. I have nothing against Democrats, per se. I only criticize the people I disagree with. Those usually happen to be Democrats. If you've noticed, and apparently you haven't, I've bashed Bush plenty for running up the deficits and debt, and for adding to the unfunded entitlement liability. I guess I'm a Republican basher too.

And trying to say Fannie-Freddie isn't the main culprit in the mortgage crisis, when Fannie-Freddie facilitated the entire mortgage securities feeding frenzy, is simply dumb. Fannie-Freddie was the driver. Deregulation assisted (Community Reinvestment Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley), but as I've already pointed out, and you again choose to ignore, that was bipartisan in nature, if not driven by Dems, as the CRA was.

In summary, you are ignoring every single facet of the mortgage crisis that is inconsistent with your burning need to blame it all on Bush. Bush has plenty to answer for during his presidency, but your favorite whipping boy didn't give us this problem. It was mainly the Democrats. So, please stop your Olbermannic nonsense.

1). It's interesting to me that conservatives bring up a man they despise, Bill Clinton, when it suits them (like here and at their very own convention). As Rev said, nice selective memory.

2). Nice try, King, on blaming this all on the D's. You know it isn't that simple………

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/who_caused_the_economic_crisis.html

The truth is, as the article states, two of the main culprits are the Clinton and Bush administrations. So my guess is this is Clinton trying to avoid his share of the blame. The most interesting point the article makes in rebuttal to your post, King:

"But saying that Democrats killed the 2005 bill "while Mr. Obama was notably silent" oversimplifies things considerably. The bill made it out of committee in the Senate but was never brought up for consideration. At that time, Republicans had a majority in the Senate and controlled the agenda. Democrats never got the chance to vote against it or to mount a filibuster to block it."

Which brings up another point: interesting that during the 6 years of unfettered power conservatives had they were able to do eveything they wanted except this. And, stop abortion, privatize Social Security, make flag burning illegal, put prayer back into schools………and of course, be fiscally responsible. You know, all those things they always claim they are gonna do……….

Mommy, he made me do it. He made me. I didn't mean to, but he made me. So don't blame me! Blame him, he made me do it.

This just goes to show how far the Clintons are willing to go to sink B. Hussein Obama's candadicy.

Without apologizing for F & F and Democrats, who received much campaign cash from said institutions….I must say in response that F & F are only a snapshot of the larger picture.

The authentic problem, as opposed to one simply grasped at for partisan purposes, came about in December of 2000 in a budget funding bill which could not be vetoed. Investment banks were spared any oversight….and mortgage sellers could move their paper however they desired….catalyzing the bundling, buying, selling and gambling on…mortgage backed securities.

In addition, Alan Greenspan lowered prime rates so many times and to such a low figure…..Americans couldn't resist borrowing. Add to that the fact that Greenspan, no liberal, cheerled for sub-prime junk and trick ARM's…..you know, using the GOP mantra of "more choices".

Overarching all of this F & F misdirection, yet unmentioned in King's post, is the indisputable fact that the Republican political party is the party of deregulation and an unfettered marketplace free from oversight. Republicans belong to the party of Reagan. McCain is proud of his membership in Reagan's army. Ronnie spoke clearly and unequivocally about government oversight and/or regulation…he was against it. Reagan told us that government was the problem, not the solution…for anything.

Now those Reagan chickens are roosting, obscenely disfigured by Bush-Cheney, but still recognizable as Republican deregulation chickens, just the same.