Straw polls for straw people.

You explanation was laughable, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. So perhaps you should consider the possibility that you’re the one who is wrong.

Seriously. You explanation was, ‘Freddie / Mae can help people buy homes. Some of these home might have been flipped. Therefore, Fannie / Mac is partially to blame for flipping homes.’

That’s beyond pathetic.

“I guess it fits the John Ziegler and Zogby polling about the misinformed Obama supporters who didn’t know what party controlled Congress or who Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were.”

You’re actually bringing up that flawed POS survey?

That’s also beyond pathetic.

So is your inability to count past two, but that doesn’t stop you from thinking your opinion is valid.

On the one hand, I’m just glad your cluelessness can’t affect me since you live in Canada. But Jaim and Durocell, if they are on your side on this, it’s just scary they can vote. I guess it fits the John Ziegler and Zogby polling about the misinformed Obama supporters who didn’t know what party controlled Congress or who Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were. At least those two know that.

At least I think they do.

Duros: “Hey, kinda like that.”

I agree. You’re lucky. “Sturbridge” just sounds like Dennis had a stroke.

Hey, kinda like that.

No, no. He’s right. Every time you buy a Big Mac you help the economy. A growing economy gave people incentive to invest money. Some people choose real estate. And some of these people decided to flip houses.

Therefore Ronald McDonald caused the economic crisis.

GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS AND MEET ME AT McDONALS HQ!

In that case, you are responsible for flipping homes, because the money in your bank account allowed the bank to lend money to someone either flipping a house, or buying a house that was flipped.

Or BOTH!

[INSERT DRAMATIC MUSIC HERE!]

The ‘connection’ is so tangential that I feel the need to put scare quotes around the word.

Think, CSS. If someone needed to flip their house, they’d need a buyer who could get financing. That buyer had easy financing because the mortgage lender knew he could make the loan and then sell that loan if it met FNMA and FHLMC guidelines and he could get their guarantee on it, thereby passing the risk of default on to someone else. If he doesn’t get the FNMA guarantee, he may have to hold on to the loan, and that is risk to him, and he can only take so much risk before he tells that buyer of the house being flipped that he can’t make the loan.

You stated that FNMA and FHLMC had nothing to do with people flipping houses. I did explain how they did. They provided an market for the loans the banks made. They guaranteed conventional loans subject to their guidelines that the banks could get the guarantee and sell to investment houses, who would package bundles of these loans and securitize them. That in a nutshell is how they had a very important role in how so much flipping of houses happened- if banks didn’t have that guarantee that FN and FH would provide, or the liquidity they would provide, then mortgage lenders would not be able to make as many loans. This is all very well known and information is easily found. Even Paul Krugman, Sturbridge.

You are a dense one.

Not trying to be slippery, just didn’t get your point. As to the above, every time you buy something you should know what your are buying. When you sign your name to a loan, there should be plenty of documentation outlining the risks. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe on most loan forms, you even have a certain time period with with to cancel. Sure, predatory lending happened, but the ultimate responsibibility is with the person who signed his name to the loan.
In investments, it’s not a whole different. I can’t go into it all right now but will another time, but investors should also get a prospectus. In the case I brought up with ARM’s, I thinhk it’s sad that there were so many people out there who were unaware their rates could readjust upward by so much. I’m sure they felt and I’m sure many brokers told these people that they’d always be able to just sell their house if they couldn’t afford the higher rate when it reset.
—
On one side, you’re trying to blame this entire fiasco on Freddie and Fannie, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank. And then you say, well, it wasn’t ALL their fault. –Duros62

Durocell- Strowbridge stated before that Fannie and Freddie had nothing at all to do with people flipping houses. That is categorically false and laughable that anyone would say that. I never said it was all their fault- it wasn’t. A lot of things went in to it. But I will say that the above you mentioned are not without significant fault. Objective analysis bears taht out if you’d just take the time to read about it instead of staying on biased websites for your sources of information.

If the buyers had no idea of the risks they were taking, and not being told of the risks by the sellers, wouldn’t that classify as predatory sales practices?

And again, has nothing to do with Freddie and Fannie.
Just trying to get a handle on your point. Slippery little bugger.

This coming from a man who can’t count past two.

You keep saying I’m wrong, but you haven’t explained why Fannie / Mac is to blame for flipping houses. It’s like blaming Adjustable rate mortgage’s for people buying houses they can’t afford. Freddie / Mae has a limit on the size of loan they can guarantee, which kind of limits their affect on the phenomenon of flipping houses.

“And to your prior post, my point was that C.S. Strowbridge…”

Hey, you spelled my name right. Congratulations.

“The crisis in part had a lot to do with idiots who were in charge of buying securities they had no idea what the risks were. They’re not 100% to blame for the crisis, but a lot does fall on them.”

So I’m the reason for this meltdown, even though I was saying it was coming years ago.

Granted, I didn’t make this discovery. I learned about it from Paul Krugman, but I certainly knew the problem was there long before most people.

“Instead, they are being treated as victims of predatory sales tactics by brokerage houses in the press.”

Who is doing this? Who are being portrayed as victims?

That is where I’m coming from, Dennis. I’ll pit my logistical skills against your comprehension skilz any day.
On one side, you’re trying to blame this entire fiasco on Freddie and Fannie, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank. And then you say, well, it wasn’t ALL their fault.

Sooooo, which is it?

Your logistical skills leave much to be desired, Duros62, at least in this case. Fannie and Freddie certainly a lot to do with people flipping houses, as Strowbridge claimed, and still claims. But whatever you mean by ‘had nothing to do with it’, just because naive people borrowed money to buy homes with ARM’s because of a low teaser rate and then acted surprised 3-5 years later when their rate adjusted much higher and that wasn’t necessarily FN and FH’s fault, hardly means they had nothing to do with the mortgage crisis. Not sure where you are coming from on this, but it’s not planet Earth.

And to your prior post, my point was that C.S. Strowbridge is a financial idiot. The crisis in part had a lot to do with idiots who were in charge of buying securities they had no idea what the risks were. They’re not 100% to blame for the crisis, but a lot does fall on them. Instead, they are being treated as victims of predatory sales tactics by brokerage houses in the press.

I doubt Sturbridge has even bought his first house to even know the very beginning of the mortgage loan process.

Ah ha. So, is this an admission that Fannie/Freddie had nothing to do with it?

No, you missed why I said that. Not surprisingly.

CSS is Canadian. He lives in Canadia. He is not the “people like you” who got us in this mess.

4) The price the government is paying on the open market to borrow is at an incredible low right now. Check the rates on Treasurys.

Money borrowed today to stimulate the economy is paid back with future tax revenues at a discount. Why?

1) Growth of the labor force. Population growth steadily increasess the number of workers contributing to GDP.

2) Increase in productivity. Hours worked by future workers create more GDP than hours worked today.

3) Monetary inflation. Whether the rate of inflation is large or small, dollars borrowed today are repaid with devalued future dollars.

In summary, if government today borrows 1 percent of current GDP for deficit spending, it will pay back something less than 1 percent of GDP in the future.

So the real reason we are in this problem is because of people like you.

No wonder you don’t want the Democrats to solve the problem, it will be a lot harder to make money based on shady deals with tougher regulations in place.