It is surprising to me the number of people who still blame President George W. Bush for the 2008 crisis. The facts that I found were a far cry from the Democratic version and the mainstream media.

First of all, this “bubble” began long before President Bush took office. It began in the ’70s with the Community Reinvestment Act. Then in 1995 President Bill Clinton the changed the laws affecting lending practice and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He made it easier for lawsuits against banks that didn’t lend to low-income families. One such lawsuit took place in 1995. Citibank was hit with a discrimination lawsuit based not on the ability of the people to repay but on the color of their skin. It is of note that President Obama was one of the attorneys on this case. The lawsuit was settled out of court. The Clinton administration then had Attorney General Janet Reno threaten banks with legal action if they did not give loans to unqualified borrowers who did not have the income to pay back the loans. Clinton than put Franklin Raines in charge of Fannie Mae, which bought all the “bad” loans.

There is a lot more to this story and a lot of involvement by ranking Democrats; the facts are there for you to look up. Here is a statement from Clinton on “Good Morning America” in September 2008: “I think that the responsibility that the Democrats had may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress, or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

There are many more examples and statements to give, but I will leave you with Bush and his administration. Starting in 2003 Bush called on Congress 17 times to rein in Freddie and Fannie. To blame Bush for the 2008 housing bubble crash is part of the lie.

The people most responsible are names such as Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Raines and Obama. So essentially America put the people that caused the housing crisis in charge of our whole country and economy.

Amazingly, four years later as the economy worsens, they want to do it again, all the while blaming Bush. Please research the subject on your own; don’t buy the rhetoric or the distortions of truth being given to you. Let’s get our country growing again with the right policies to make America thrive.

BRENDA WARD

Fort Wayne