Barney Frank

Barney Frank was in congress when the Community Investment Act was passed. This was one of four Acts passed during the late 70’s and early 80’s that force banks to make home loans to people who were not qualified. These loans were backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and were designed to make the American Dream of home ownership available to everyone. Frank continued to defend the actions of these two agencies throughout the years preceding the big mortgage crisis of 2008. Once the collapse came and he had to admit his err in judgment he was on TV and here is a quote from that interview:

So, as I waited to be interviewed on a TV show last August, I was surprised and pleased to hear Mr. Frank concede that he had erred: “I hope by next year we’ll have abolished Fannie and Freddie” he said, referring to the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), “... it was a great mistake to push lower-income people into housing they couldn’t afford and couldn’t really handle once they had it.” Then he added, “I had been too sanguine about Fannie and Freddie.

The dictionary definition of sanguine is Cheerfully optimistic. That interview was on August of 2010. In the November elections following his admission of bad judgment he was reelected.

On Tuesday, voters in the United States went to the polls for midterm elections. The entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate were up for grabs and, when the polls closed, internet gambling champion Barney Frank (D-MA) was reelected by a 54% vote. This was an election when the Republicans won house seats in record numbers

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the real cost of the federal government guaranteeing the business of failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is $317 billion

The top six executives of the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, received a combined total of $35.4 million during 2009 and 2010

We complain about the corruption in government but we keep reelecting the same people. The above illustrates the money he cost the taxpayers but does not include the pain and suffering inflicted upon all those poor people who were promised their dream home.