Two things everyone must know when talking about the financial crises

If your like me, then you must also be tired of hearing that President Bush and the Republican party are solely responsible for the financial crises!!!  I say enough is enough and its time we fight back. And the way to do that is to understand and memorize two key phrases: 1) ninja loans, and 2) the dot com bubble.

President Clinton and his Democratic Congress continued and strengthened the policy that every American should have the right to own his own home.  While this piece of legislation sounds great in principle, it does not and did not work in actuality.  The administration put pressure on lenders to not ask as many questions, lend out more money, and regard citizens with less than stellar credit ratings and jobs as perfect borrowers.  This led to the emergence of many things, but amongst them was a new loan called 'NINJA loans' (My personal favorite, cuz lets be honest who doesn't like ninja's).  These loans stood for 'No income, No job, No assets, No problem.'  Everyone was entitled to a loan.  As opposed to the past where you had to show the bank that you had enough money to repay the loan, and only then would a bank lend you money, now banks were giving money to anyone (as commanded to by Congress).  This directly influenced the financial crises, as it was specifically these sub-prime mortgages (mortgages that were lent to people that could not afford them) that people then defaulted on a few years later (obviously cuz they had no jobs) that caused our current situation today (This subject is very detailed and intricate but if there is enough demand for it I would be glad to dedicate a blog just to sub-prime mortgages).  Of course when this happened, the same people who called on the banks to lend out these loans now called on them to take responsibility for their actions.  It was a Democrat ideology of 'housing for all' that directly influenced the crises we face today. If this 'feel good' policy had not been made law, perhaps the borrowers that had to default on their payments would not have been given loans in the first place, and the whole idea of a sub-prime mortgage would never have been formed.

The second key phrase is the dot com bubble.  It is true that Clinton came into office with a deficit and left with a huge surplus, there is no arguing that.  However, the question is was it his policies that led to the surplus or simply a technological boom going on in the Country at the time.  President Clinton's policies in no way, shape, or form influenced the technological bubble forming during the 90's.  It was this boom that led to the huge(HUGE) stock market growth, more money in people's pockets, and ultimately more money for the federal government.  As the 90's came to a close, the political leaders were actually facing the 'problem' of what to do about the budget surplus in future years.  NO ONE (not democrats or republicans) foresaw the bubble bursting, and it was this huge event that ended the windfall of money into the governments coffers.  Without this industrial stimulation, and with the unfortunate and unseen events of September 11 and costly wars following closely in its wake, there was no way any President could have avoided a deficit.

In conclusion, I am not here to say that the Republicans are without blame (As President of the US, President Bush certainly could have curtailed the legislation but chose not too). But, there is certainly enough evidence to point out that the 'feel good' policies of democrats were just as bad for our economy.