Causes and Consequences of the Global Economic Crisis

 

This is a public service message to raise awareness of the facts, misperceptions and opinions about the causes and consequences of the global economic crisis, and to encourage objective reporting.  The videos and articles presented in this message offer a narrative of the causes of the crisis from the point of view of the respective Producers and Authors.  Links to the unedited C-SPAN videos that served as source materials for some of the videos are included so that viewers may develop a more complete historical perspective, and more clearly discern the facts from the Producers' / Authors' points of view.  Comments on the consequences listed below.

 

Causes and Historical Perspectives

1.        Excerpts of 2004 House Committee Financial Services Hearings on Fannie Mae Accounting Fraud and Need for Oversight (link to full, unedited video below under C-SPAN Videos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

 

2.        Excerpts of 2005 Congressional Black Caucus Swearing In (link to full, unedited video below under C-SPAN Videos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0&feature=related

 

3.        Obama Blames Republicans for Mortgage Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLLlZQJQrFY

 

4.        Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4&feature=related

 

5.        Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Hannity on Obama's Cozy Connections with Fannie and Freddie)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1vSqF9Hm7A

 

6.        ACORN (Hannity's America Barack Obama & Friends Special Part 6)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxfQD4If7kk

 

7.        Covering Your Fannie, Who Really Caused Our Economic Crisis?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiEWCnpNnBQ&NR=1

 

8.        How The Democrats Caused The Financial Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr1M1T2Y314&NR=1

 

9.        Timeline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&feature=related

 

10.     08/28/63 Betrayal of a Dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

 

11.     2001 Corruption of a Belief, Betraying the Dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/27/radio-interview-obama-laments-lack-supreme-court-ruling-redistributing-wealth/

 

12.     Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 (S.190 [109th]) (link to full, unedited video below under C-SPAN Videos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVVVzEKauzY

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/2008-presidential-election/439626-senate-bill-s-190-introduced-1-a.html

 

13.     1999 NY Times Article:  Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending (on Risk of Fannie Mae Failure and Bailout)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260

 

14.     01/24/05 Fortune Article:  The Fall of Fannie Mae

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/01/24/8234040/index.htm

 

15.     Community Reinvestment Act – Ensuring Credit Adequacy or Enforcing Credit Allocation?

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:90IT4MK9474J:www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv17n4/vmck4-94.pdf+community+reinvest+act&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

 

16.     Community Reinvestment Act had nothing to do with subprime crisis http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/09/community_reinv.html

 

17.     Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank on His Role with Regard to Fannie Mae

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bijtBkKQwY8

 

18.     Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank and Alleged Fannie Mae Conflicts of Interest http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html

 

Some of the Human Costs

1.        10/07/2008 Los Angeles Times Article:  Father kills family and himself, despondent over financial losses

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-porterranch7-2008oct07,0,7425239.story

 

2.        10/09/2008 Washington Times Article:  McCain pledges homeowner help;  Obama blames Bush policies

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/08/mccain-would-buy-bad-homeowner-mortgages/

 

3.        Profile of Armando Falcon Jr., Esq., Former Director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight

http://www.fairness.com/resources/relation?relation_id=21610

 

Unedited C-SPAN Videos

1.        10/06/2004 Management of Fannie Mae 183818-1 (House Committee Financial Services Hearing on Fannie Mae Fraud and Call for Strengthening of Oversight)

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=183818-1

 

2.        12/14/2004 Investigation of Fannie Mae 184820-1 (House Committee Financial Services Hearing on Fannie Mae Fraud and Call for Strengthening of Oversight)

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=184820-1

 

3.        12/16/2004 Oversight of Fannie Mae 184864-1 (National Taxpayers Union News Conference on Fannie Mae's Political Influence - Warning of the Possibility of Dire Consequences of Fannie Mae Fraud in Future Years, and Need to Privatize (Deregulate) Since Continued Regulation is Impossible and Potentially Costly to Taxpayers)

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=184864-1

 

4.        01/04/2005 Congressional Black Caucus Swearing-In 185017-1

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=185017-1

 

5.        09/25/2008 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Takeover 281353-1 (House Committee Financial Services Hearing on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Takeover)

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=281353-1

 

Consequences

In every generation, every decade, recent history is replete with the consequences of politicians and other authority figures who prey on suffering, selling hope to those who would listen while peddling influence to those who would pay, advocating accountability but abdicating responsibility while casting blame, and promising unity but creating division, employing violence - be it verbal, emotional, psychological or physical - to set one party against another to further a cause.  The result is always the same, however well-intended the cause.  People are divided.  Humanity suffers.

 

The origins and consequences of the global credit and economic crisis follow this familiar pattern.  The crisis is the result of politicians and other authority figures corrupting the power of a belief and betraying the dream of a people.  They preyed on suffering, sold hope, peddled influence and unjustly burdened citizens of nations around the world with the costs of their destructive, self-serving actions, perhaps setting back living standards for generations, particularly for those of greatest need in the poorest countries.  The elderly and retirees, whose hard-earned life savings have been devalued, bear a particularly indescribable burden.  Conflict is likely to rise around the world against this backdrop of misery.  Authority figures will prey on this suffering and conflict to feed the next generation of extremists and terrorists.

 

We must act with care, with intelligence if we are to stem this rising tide of misery and its consequences, for ourselves and for the generations to come.  We must insist on accountability if we are to prevent this from happening again.

 

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