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Let's Heap It On Minorities (again)

For over a year now we've discussed the subprime meltdown and it's possible causes. Was it the fault of lenders and their irresponsible (and lenient) guidelines? Was it dishonest loan officers who lied on applications in order to qualify clients? Perhaps it's appraisers who overinflated values of homes. Or were their arms twisted by real estate agents who threatened not to send them future business if they didn't make the values fit? Personally I think it's a combination of all the above and probably other factors as well.

Fast-forward to the financial crisis we are experiencing now and somehow all the blame rests on Fannie/Freddie and lending to minorities. Wow!

I'd like to contribute the following piece from Daniel Gross of Slate titled 'Subprime Suspects'

Posted by Tchaka Owen on 10/08/2008 06:19 PM

Comments (20)

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20 Comments on Let's Heap It On Minorities (again)

OCT

2008

Tchaka,

You just love to start the racial arguments don't you. I don't think this is a racial issue at all. I think dead beats cross all racial and economic lines. I think the problem has a few causes. Crooked polititicians like Barney Frank sleeping with people to whom he is supposed to be providing oversight.Obama taking a ridiculous amount of money in a short time. People from all aspects of life taking mortgages they knew they could never afford. Everyone wanting to speculate and get rich because noone wants to work for their money anymore. The morals and values of our country are going down the tubes in a hurry as more and more people feel they are entitled without earning it themselves. The moral decay of our country is helping to errode the traditions that made us great. I don't believe further socialism is the answer. And I don't think bringing the race card into it is any help and although i know you will find some way to justify this post with your elitist attitude with which you will deny doing any such thing I think this post was beneath you..

I appologize for offending you but this post bothered me and you know I have a hard time holding things back when I think they are wrong. We don't need race wars in this country.

Tchaka - Fannie & Freddie are large components of the problem. As Hugh stated, though, it crosses economic, ethnic, racial and other lines. They were just the straw that broke the back, or, the corner stone that when removed will bring the building down.

Tchaka ~ This is like the post you once posted name Will you vote for a WHITE ? President. You seem to love to start your racial wars, and then you claim you have no intention of starting racial tensions. You cannot handle the truth, so you start your smoke screens. But Bill Clinton according to the New York Times and Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd and Obama and his ACORN CRONIES threatened the banks and Fannie Mae with lawsuits if they did not change the guidleines to include those who did not qualify for a conventional loan, hense the sub prime mess.

Tchaka - Had we only known then, what we know now. I swear I would have sold everything off at the peak and bought everything I could right now :-)

Katrina in Tampa

Hugh - I'm glad you posted and I'm glad you don't want to bring the race card into the equation. The problem is that many others do. I wish you'd stand up and tell them to pipe down instead of getting on my case. You are correct in that I will justify this post and state that I am not the one to start it - why would I want to introduce that? Plus, since you read the link I gave you have your proof that I didn't start it.

Our current crisis is caused by a number of factors and yet again it's all about finger pointing. This time it's the fault of minorities. At least I know you'll stand up against such beliefs.

Tchaka, and don't forget McSame's reference to Obama in the debate last night as "that one." I didn't construe it as racist, but many others did.

Mike - I agree with Hugh, he just makes the mistake of thinking I'm the one starting this.

Nicholas - Nope, it's not like that fantastic blog I wrote. Why would you feel any racial tension over this, Nicholas? Do you feel like a finger is being pointed at you? The author in the link felt that piling the blame on minorities is unjust. Why does that make you bent out of shape?

Katrina - Great hearing from you again! You're absolutely right....I wish we'd saved our money until now in order to take advantage of the 'sales' going on down here.

Terry - I didn't perceive that as racist at all, but I think Nicholas is about to accuse you of starting a race war because you brought that up.

Tchaka ~ Actually the finger is at you, because you fail as always to answer the question, as the truth is setting you free. You just bring up the fact that the liberals targeted minorities, and therefore the implosion. Always trying to help, but always screwing up, typical liberal methodology.

Sure Nicholas, if it makes you feel better to write so. Anyway, please focus on the issue of the blog from now on. I'm not interested in your finger pointing.

OCT

2008

Yes We have a high Rise Condo Building in Denver with a lot of investors who paid $700K for the property and out of 55 condos 35 are investor owned and I'm sure its NOT by any Minorities The foreclosed Condos are now selling for $380K.

I dont understand Hugh's Rant WTF is he talking about and making no sense

"Crooked polititicians like Barney Frank sleeping with people to whom he is supposed to be providing oversight.Obama taking a ridiculous amount of money in a short time."

OCT

2008

Nicholas posted >"Tchaka ~ This is like the post you once posted name Will you vote for a WHITE ? President. You seem to love to start your racial wars, and then you claim you have no intention of starting racial tensions."<

Nicholas, you really ought to do something about that "log" sticking out of your own eye, before you make accusations like those displayed above. You have gone out of your way to make me feel "second class", as a participant in the discussions here, because you disagree with my opinions and the way I provide support for them...and somehow, you "win" because you accuse me of posting anonymously, as if my status on the site has any material effect on the strength of my argument and what is supporting it....

This links to one of the most blatantly racist blog entries and discussions related to the topic currently under discussion:

Real Estate Blog - Obamas ties to the housing"crisis"....

I pointed out that the premise of the blog entry was racially motivated, and the pictures posted by the blog author supported my contention. The blog author then removed my posts and restricted posting on the blog to members.

Nichloas, you "loved" that blog entry, and the racial prejudice of it's author....and you are either clueless about your own prejudice, or you are indifferent about it....but it is sadly amusing to watch you come and sling your "stuff" at the author of this blog....in fact, it is ridiculous on your part, to post anything acusatory.....

Oh...and Ricardo.... you attempted to restrict viewing of your racially prejudiced blog entry and discussion, by restricting viewing of it to logged in, registered members....but "the Google" features a li'l thing called a

Cached version of, "Obamas ties to the housing"crisis"...., and it displays just fine to the general public....

Warning....clicking on the word "cached" above, will display racially prejudiced content!

Censorship is not a good thing.

Ed - One piece that's missing from all this hype is lack of evidence that minorities are the cause of the crisis. Fannie and Freddie deserve some blame for sure, but all the blame? I don't think so. And while guidelines were reduced to help low income (and there's nothing wrong with that), there's an assumption by many that Subprime = Minority borrower. Yet that's so so so far from the truth! I'd like to see a breakdown by race of those in default.

Alful political slant....

The minorities weren't the problem.... And the 'Right' didn't say that. Congress was the problem, with their lack of regulation.

Hey Tom, great to see you here. I forgot to email you when my Redskins stopped by Dallas 2 weeks ago. :-D

Tckaka, the McSame campaign is all about instilling racial doubt in the voters. The crowds are warmed up by staffers shouting Barack Hussein Obama. McSame and Palin keep asking "who is this guy", "where did he come from?", knowing full well he was born on Amerikan soil in Hawaii to an American mother. One brain dead old lady at one of McSames infamous town hall meetings told McBush that Obama was an arab. People in line when interviewed said he was Moslem. Funny thing is, this is all backfiring on McSurge, as the references to Obama's " funny sounding" name are turning off hispanics who also could be construed has having "funny sounding" names. Payback is such a bitch isn't it?

The real shame is that we have so many nimwitted people in our midst. Being Muslim does not preclude one from being President. The most recent shame in this religion game is Romney who never had a chance. It's unfortunate because I'm pretty sure he'd be a more effective VP for McCain. And being of Arab descent shouldn't be an issue either.

OCT

2008

Yeah Tchaka, everyone reverred Mohammad Ali when he converted to Islam. And what about Cat Stevens? I know their are other elected officials who are Moslem and it doesn't seem to make a hoot to their constituents. Racial bias and religious bigotry are still very much alive in this country. I'm not sure I agree with you about "Mittens" though :-)

OCT

2008

If this was my blog, I'd delete Terry Haugen's comment. It not only is completely without basis in fact. It is nothing but a bunch of name calling. Vote for whomever you want, but it makes a lot more sense if we all remain civil and respectful of the opinions of others. I'm not great fan of McCain, but he has gone out of his way to avoid any racial games.

To Tchaka's original thesis, I don't think "minorities" were blamed by anyone (at least by anyone in an media or print that I have seen). Does anyone think that borrowers are bad guys because they borrow? That's what borrowers are supposed to do. By the same token, I don't think appraisers or agents or brokers did anything wrong either. We all just took best advantage of the situation that was presented to us.

If anyone let us down it was the regulators who allowed crazy financial instruments to exist. I only hold those guys partly to blame, though. Because sometimes you don't know something is screwed up, until it's too late.

I just read the article you reference. Here's the tell-tale quote: "The subtext: If only Congress didn't force banks to lend money to poor minorities, the Dow would be well on its way to 36,000."

When a politically slanted columnist says "the subtext", what he means is that no one actually said that. In fact, that means he made that part up. If we have to not only worry about what we say, but we have to start worrying about our subtext, then we're all in deep trouble. ;^)

Here's another tip: if you want to know what right wingers are thinking and saying, you won't find that in a column on Slate. Just like you won't know what left-wingers think by reading Townhall. If you want to know what the left thinks and says, go to the source. If you read second hand news like this, you'll often find quotes taken from context and arguments with strawmen.

In other words, if you have a problem with Neil Cavuto or the Wall Street Journal, then quote the sources. It's just lazy thinking to read "subtext" made up by folks who aren't the source.

My subtext: I love you as a fellow American.

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