Sunday, December 21, 2008

Thanks For Setting Me Straight, NYT

I can’t quite put my finger on what about this story particularly vexes me, because overall I agree with its basic tenets. I think the Bush Administration bears a large portion of blame for the mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit crisis. As I’ve written here and elsewhere, homeownership – however noble the notion – is not an entitlement, it is the benefit of hard work, sacrifice and one's ability to pay.

Perhaps my objections have more to do with the story’s overall tone, and how the authors seek to lay the blame for our country’s current economic woes solely at the feet of Bush. A sampling of their objective pursuit of this truth:

“Bush did foresee the danger posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage finance giants. The president spent years pushing a recalcitrant Congress to toughen regulation of the companies, but was unwilling to compromise when his former Treasury secretary wanted to cut a deal. And the regulator Bush chose to oversee them – an old prep school buddy (emphasis mine) – pronounced the companies sound even as they headed toward insolvency.”

Our economic blood loss is due to the cuts of several knives – the Bush Administration, Congress, the financial sector, Wall Street regulators and last but certainly not least the short-sightedness of an over-extended and overly consumptive American public. You can play with the comparative negligence percentages all you want, but the cold truth is that everyone is to blame here. And, when this turbulence subsides and we resume growth (and we will), none of the usual suspects listed here can rightly take sole credit.

But mostly, I just reject the Times' reflex to kick a guy when he’s down.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do non-bloggers even read the NYT anymore?

Goldwater's Ghost said...

Judging by their recent publicized financial woes, I'd say no.

GG

The Conservative Wahoo said...

This article does inhuman things in order to blame the crisis on the Administration--without any balance as to the culpability of the Congress. Yes, Bush's "ownership society" was a dog (and we said it then!), but well-intentioned efforts to reign in Freddie and Fannie were resisted at every turn by the D's in Congress.

Goldwater's Ghost said...

Neither Christopher Dodd nor Barney Frank's name is mentioned in this piece. Not once.

GG