Why are people still hoodwinked into believing the Community Reinvestment Act is major reason why we’re here?

Question by Change Now: Why are people still hoodwinked into believing the Community Reinvestment Act is major reason why we’re here?
What a load of propaganda crap that the right has plopped on the American psyche.

There are people out there who actually think that the CRA brought down our economy. What fools,

The CRA was created at a time when subprimes could be easily absorbed into the market. They would make up less than 5% of all mortgages.

The current catastrophe was caused by SECURITIZATION of mortgages. Harvard MBA’s used derivatives and came up with a mathematical model for rich people to get richer because they weren’t making enough money thru other fixed returns like T-Bills.

The banks made tons and tons of money by packaging this load of crap and selling them onto pension funds, etc. all around the world.

When people couldn’t pay the monthly minimums and the underlying asset prices stopped rising and began to fall, the whole house of cards came crashing down. The CRA loans to poor folks with small loan balances played a small role. Most of the bad loans were on speculators or on big mortgages

Best answer:

Answer by M Taylor
The root of the problem is that the average American is a moron. Its not PC to say this and plenty of people who profit from those morons will be quick to feign indignation if anyone says it, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

There is a reason that you have more votes for American Idol then the next President of the United States.

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Q&A: A reason for securitizing mortgages is to allow a bank to do what?

Question by foxtrot: A reason for securitizing mortgages is to allow a bank to do what?

Best answer:

Answer by ThatGuy
Securitizing mortgages allows banks to a) minimize risk exposure b) take advantage of lower capital requirements.

a) When a bank makes a loan, it is exposed to the risk that the borrower may default. However, through the process of securitization the bank sells the loan to what is called a ‘conduit’ (likely for price greater than the principal of the loan, but less then the overall expected value after the loan has been paid), which then packages the loan with others to form a ‘bond.’ In this process the bank has profited from the loan but is not exposed to any risk attributed to the borrower.

b) Banks are held to certain capital requirements, i.e. they have to hold a certain level of capital to support their loans. However, they have to hold less capital to back up investments in securities. Hence, a general strategy is to make a loan, securitize it, then buy into a senior tranche of the new security. Thus the bank has transformed a loan into a less risky asset (the bond pools risk) with which it needs to hold less capital against.

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