The Housing Crisis

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are to blame for the housing crisis, say Republican conservatives. Not true, says McClatchey Newspapers:

...federal housing data reveal that the charges [against Fannie and Freddie] aren’t true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.
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Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, noted that “while Fannie and Freddie, as huge actors in the mortgage market, certainly contributed to the bubble, it is absurd to point to them as principle culprits.” He pointed out that “their market share actually fell as the bubble grew to ever more dangerous levels, dropping from 50.1 percent in 2002 to just 34.8 percent at the peak of the bubble in 2006.”

A Republican Senator, desperate to avoid blame for the economy, claims that the President doesn't control anything. Bush is just a helpless victim of the economy, which is completely independent of anything Bush does.

An examination of a number of myths about the housing crisis.