Jimmuh Carter, Barney Frank, and the Community Reinvestment Act

A must read on the forensic examination of our economy's implosion. Click here.
An excerpt from Jeff Jacoby's Boston Globe column on September 28, 2008.

The roots of this crisis go back to the Carter administration. That was when government officials, egged on by left-wing activists, began accusing mortgage lenders of racism and "redlining" because urban blacks were being denied mortgages at a higher rate than suburban whites.

The pressure to make more loans to minorities (read: to borrowers with weak credit histories) became relentless. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act, empowering regulators to punish banks that failed to "meet the credit needs" of "low-income, minority, and distressed neighborhoods." Lenders responded by loosening their underwriting standards and making increasingly shoddy loans.

So there you have it.