Fox in the Henhouse: Democrats Fixing the Financial Mess?

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has put free-market capitalism at the root of the current mortgage industry debacle, denying the real history of government interference in that market...On Sept. 15, with banking giant Lehman Bros. filing for bankruptcy protection, Obama was given the opening to begin weaving his anti-capitalist storyline. And that he did. Artfully blurring the mortgage industry crisis with generalized tax policy, Obama declared: "I certainly don't fault Sen. McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It's a philosophy we've had for the last eight years, one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else." ...The words were carefully chosen. That day in Colorado marked his return to the teleprompter and a strictly refocused campaign message intent on fusing the mortgage industry woes and free-market capitalism in general...Confident the American people are primed for his brand of "change," Obama maintained his anti-capitalist theme..."What we have seen in the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed."...According to Obama, capitalism has been "rendered . . . a colossal failure."....

Contrary to the Obama narrative, however, free-market capitalism is not at the root of the current mortgage industry crisis, but rather the very socialism he hawks. The historical record makes this fact unmistakably clear. Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened, M. Jay Wells, Investors Business Daily, 10/29/2008

What follows is that actual history in great detail. Go to the link and read it all. If you miss this, and listen to the rhetorical frenzy of a crowd-rousing Marxist (see Wonker's citation below), you'll miss the only story that matters. From politicizing markets by enforcing a policy that encouraged loans to anybody on the basis of race, instead of on financial merit, to the furious refusal of Barney Frank and Congress to regulate a gathering storm, it's a horror story whose denouement we're living in right now.

Wake up, sleepers. They're trying to take it all on the basis of lies and rhetoric.

Luther