Sorry to burst your bubble, but perhaps, some real research should be conducted into the cause of the economic downtown rather than repeating verbatim what you hear on BBC world.
Maralinga, perhaps you shouldn't quote personal opinion and right-wing conspiracy theories as fact:-
Urban myths are always so larded with nonsense that deconstructing them is a multi-stage endeavor. Let's begin with the truth about the CRA: When it was enacted, many banks were restricting their lending to creditors without risk. That's like a health insurance company only insuring people who never get sick. It's a great way to make a profit but it's no way to grow an economy. The CRA pushed banks to expand the envelope of their lending but never beyond an actuarially justifiable risk. True, it represented an intrusion into the market which a conservative might understandably decry, but the notion that it put a gun to the heads of banks and told them to pull the trigger is ridiculous.
To give credibility to this story you have to believe that for 31 years American lenders have diligently and without protest been on a government mandated death march. They knuckled under and did what they were told even through 12 years of Reagan-Bush, 12 years of a Republican-controlled Congress and eight years of Bush 2. They just kept on handing out money to deadbeats until they ran out. They never lobbied, never complained.
Source:- John Moore
CRA loans have actually managed to turn a consistent profit:
http://www.traigerlaw.com/.../traige...udy_1-7-08.pdf
And banks participating in CRA had a higher capital requirement, as legislated by the act, than banks that did not participate.
Additionally, Fannie and Freddie's involvement in subprime loans occurred due to the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act - completely outside the purview of the CRA:
So get YOUR facts straight!!
Trying to blame an administration from 33 years ago for the present debacle is pulling a very long bow. The US has had Republican white houses for 20 out of the last 28 years, so blaming the liberals is clutching at straws.
As to Dick, the simple fact is that ANY excuse, be it a crash, a near miss or a totally unrelated financial crisis is an excuse for him to bleat on about his own, largely discredited agenda.
The US health system is an example of how an essential service can be denied to many people who need it, even in an affluent country, when it is largely left to market forces with insufficient government investment in infrastructure and regulation, just as is happening to air services to remote communities. Ansett was an example of how a large commercial enterprise could close overnight, as could a commercially run RFF or ATC service. This was clear in my first post, so it's you doing the straw man here.