Slow-motion live-blogging the Mortgage Meltdown

Those crazy, whacky Internet news archives really have the 'progressives' running wild.

• Los Angeles Times: Fannie Mae Moves to Loosen Home Loan Credit Rules; Finance: The agency will encourage lenders to give mortgages to people with blemished records., October 1, 1999:

The nation's largest provider of mortgage funds, moving to increase homeownership among minorities and low-income citizens, unveiled a program Thursday to loosen lending standards for people with "slightly impaired" credit...


It is designed to provide homeownership opportunities for "many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below" qualifying for a loan, said Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive.

• US Newswire: Cuomo Announces Action to Provide $2.4 Trillion in Mortgages for Affordable Housing for 28.1 Million Families, July 30, 1999:

[Clinton administration] Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced a policy to require the nation's two largest housing finance companies [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages over the next 10 years to provide affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.


Cuomo said the historic action by HUD raises the required percentage of mortgage loans for low- and moderate-income families that finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must buy from the current 42 percent of their total purchases to a new high of 50 percent -- a 19 percent increase -- in the year 2001.

• Associated Press: PROSPECT OF FOR-PROFIT MARKETS RAISES FEARS OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST, July 30 1999:

Concern among securities industry watchdogs is growing as the two largest U.S. stock markets move closer to for-profit status. The fear is they will have difficulty separating their regulatory obligations from their desire to make money.

• The Kansas City Star: Behind the boom in minority homeownership, June 12, 1999:

It's one of the hidden success stories of the Clinton era. In the great housing boom of the 1990s, black and Latino homeownership has surged to the highest level ever recorded. The number of blacks owning their own home is now increasing nearly three times as fast as the number of whites; the number of Latino homeowners is growing nearly five times as fast as that of whites. These numbers are dramatic enough to deserve more detail...

• PressWire: CUOMO issues higher FHA home mortgage loan limits for communities to increase homeownership, October 20 1998:

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced higher Federal Housing Administration home mortgage loan limits for communities around the nation, implementing a Clinton Administration initiative that will enable thousands more American families to become homeowners each year.


"These higher loan limits will unlock the door to homeownership for hard-working families, transforming homeownership from an impossible dream into a sweet reality," Cuomo said...

• New York Times: Homebuyers Who Need Help , January 23, 1998:

The Clinton Administration wants to raise the limit on home mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration from roughly $170,000 to $220,000. By insuring mortgages made by private lenders, the F.H.A. makes the loans risk-free, a bountiful gift to mortgage lenders and real estate agents throughout the country...

James Wolcott and his blinkered apologists could not be reached for comment.