Why The Mortgage Crisis Happened
On the eve of what may be the most important election of our time, the financial catastrophe that many believe will most influence Tuesday’s vote remains only partially covered by the major media. Though IBD has run many articles and editorials on the so-called mortgage meltdown, one of the most complete timelines of the debacle was written by an independent scholar and published this week by the Web magazine American Thinker. Because the issue is so important, we are running this 7,300-word history in its entirety.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama has put free-market capitalism at the root of the current mortgage industry debacle, denying the real history of government interference in that market.
On Sept. 15, with banking giant Lehman Bros. filing for bankruptcy protection, Obama was given the opening to begin weaving his anti-capitalist storyline. And that he did. Artfully blurring the mortgage industry crisis with generalized tax policy, Obama declared:
“I certainly don’t fault Sen. McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years, one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.”
The words were carefully chosen. That day in Colorado marked his return to the teleprompter and a strictly refocused campaign message intent on fusing the mortgage industry woes and free-market capitalism in general.
Confident the American people are primed for his brand of “change,” Obama maintained his anti-capitalist theme.
“What we have seen in the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed.”
According to Obama, capitalism has been “rendered … a colossal failure.”