I don’t know if John Lott is correct in suggesting that the editorial writers for the New York Times are trying to boost Barack Obama’s prospects at the polls, but I do thank him for publicizing Steven A. Holmes’s September 30, 1999 New York Times report. Here are some telling lines from that report – telling especially in light of the NYT‘s current claim that the today’s financial problems are the result of too little government regulation of financial-players’ "dubious practices":
Fannie Mae, the nation’s
biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing
pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among
low and moderate income people….
Fannie Mae is taking on
significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during
flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run
into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue
similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.
