Quote from Fractals 'R Us:
...
The same idiocy is what brought us the current economic crisis. It started with Jimmy Carter and his Community Reinvestment Act and really got into full swing with Clinton. Redlining was reported on, then lenders were forced to loan to people that were high risk for not paying. The government guaranteed those loans even though we were barely out of the crisis caused by guaranteeing Savings and Loans. That effort to help the poor resulted in the whole country's working class being pushed towards poverty.
I have to seriously question this:
"...then lenders were forced to loan to people that were high risk..."
Though you are not claiming this, it is a common misconception that the CRA had something to do with the recent financial crisis. It didn't. For all practical purposes the law had no teeth and there were no penalties for non-compliance other than a poor CRA rating.
see for example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act from which the following is quoted
"[t]he law,...
emphasizes that an institution's CRA activities should be undertaken in a safe and sound manner, and does not require institutions to make high-risk loans that may bring losses to the institution. ... An institution's CRA compliance record is taken into account by the banking regulatory agencies when the institution seeks to expand through merger, acquisition or branching. The law does not mandate any other penalties for non-compliance with the CRA."
I'm equally puzzled by this remark:
"The government guaranteed those loans even though we were barely out of the crisis caused by guaranteeing Savings and Loans. That effort to help the poor resulted in the whole country's working class being pushed towards poverty. "
Which does not seem to follow from any of your preceding remarks.
You are surely aware that the extreme income disparity in the U.S. today that has resulted in some of those at the low end of the middle class falling back into poverty, according to data, had its genesis in the 1970's but then grew dramatically afterward, and was particularly influenced by fiscal policy in the 1980's during the Reagan years.
(From 1981-89, after the final revenue adjustments were made in 1986, those at the top saw a 42% reduction in the highest bracket rate, although those at the bottom saw their rate go from 11 to 15%. The net effect of the two income tax bracket adjustments during Reagan's time was to eliminate much of the "progressive nature" of the income tax and make it flatter, though not entirely flat. What I find especially curious about the Reagan presidency was that on top of the income tax tinkering came the largest peacetime tax increase ever, so far at least as I am aware. That was TEFRA , but that wasn't about income tax rates. That was about closing loopholes and increasing excise taxes. In the end, overall government revenues during Reagan's time almost perfectly matched those of prior decades at near 18.2% of GDP, but the source of revenues was significantly altered. )