Congressman Barney Frank, Senator Chris Dodd and political correctness (PC) are directly responsible for the financial downturn of the United States.  Make no mistake that America will recover and come back strong.  However, the media are doing their long-term cause no good by covering up for the blatant mistakes of cronyism that existed due to the failed mantra of PC politics.

As was correctly stated during the internet bubble, business fundamentals are not trumped by a media hyped phenomena.  Mortgages were being given to an extraordinary amount of people based on a quota system and not business fundamentals.  Income level, work history and credit history are direct predictors of ability to repay debt.  Any time your analysis strays from those basic indicators, you are effectively entering Las Vegas and letting the dice roll.  Perfectly fine for a private business to take those chances with the overhanging penalties that punish unwise risk.  However, when the government effectively takes away the risk and, in fact, rewards the lack of financially based analysis, they do so with taxpayer money.  In this case they did it with taxpayer money, did not inform the taxpayer and, in publicly broadcast hearings, declared ‘there is nothing to see’.

Accountability must start with the removal of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd from any financial oversight roles within the Congress.   At the very least, their constituents should replace them based on grotesque incompetence.  The false charges of racism that inevitably come when someone questions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must be recognized and ignored.  The federal government must cease the engineering of home ownership and allow lenders to allocate money to people who can actually pay it back.  A set of laws and regulations regarding improper lending practices can be instituted without dictating quotas.  In short, allow the business of lending money to be done by the market, with all of the inherent risks, rewards and punishments that come with it.

This basic tenet of economics has not changed, however, our adherence to it has.  Centralized management of economies has been tried by socialists for centuries and does not work.  Commerce is not new,  the basics of commercial success are as unchanging as the basics of human nature.  When we try to alter these natural laws to take away risk, we take away success.   Let’s reinstitute the idea of success and the power of the United States.

Related Articles:  Michelle Malkin, Powerlineblog