Elliott
Elite Member
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2002
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- Certified General Appraiser
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- Oregon
I heard this as an audio clip on radio Sunday and found the transcript:
BLITZER: Senator Dodd, you're in charge of oversight. You're the chairman of the Banking Committee. Are you launching any new investigations?
Because so many people are wondering, how could this situation have deteriorated, the housing crisis, to the level it's deteriorated, right now?
Because we've got to learn some lessons to make sure this never happens again.
DODD: Well, I'll say -- repeat what I said at the outset of the show, Wolf. And that is, of course, when I became chairman, a year or so ago, of this committee, we discovered that the Federal Reserve was aware of this problem 3 1/2 years earlier, and literally nothing happened, despite the mandate from Congress to examine deceptive and fraudulent practices.
You know, this was the wild west. Mortgages were being given out to people who couldn't afford them. They were luring people into situations they didn't have to be in. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that 62 percent of the people who were lured into subprime mortgages qualified for normal mortgages, for prime mortgages.
Luring people into a situation that was far more costly to them, knowing full well they couldn't pay for it -- that's the heart of this, Wolf, more than anything else, is this housing crisis.
DODD: And it's national in scope. The values are declining, as much as 30 percent over the next year or so. That's a major blow to the country. That's why you've got these --
BLITZER: A lot of people, Senator Kyl in Arizona, in the housing market out there, they're suffering big-time right now. How much of the blame, and I know you're a blunt guy, how much of the blame does the Bush administration deserve for allowing this kind of situation to deteriorate, as it has?
KYL: Virtually none.
BLITZER: Why?
KYL: We've been predicting for years that this problem would come along. When I was chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, we wrote papers on it.
BLITZER: Senator Dodd, you're in charge of oversight. You're the chairman of the Banking Committee. Are you launching any new investigations?
Because so many people are wondering, how could this situation have deteriorated, the housing crisis, to the level it's deteriorated, right now?
Because we've got to learn some lessons to make sure this never happens again.
DODD: Well, I'll say -- repeat what I said at the outset of the show, Wolf. And that is, of course, when I became chairman, a year or so ago, of this committee, we discovered that the Federal Reserve was aware of this problem 3 1/2 years earlier, and literally nothing happened, despite the mandate from Congress to examine deceptive and fraudulent practices.
You know, this was the wild west. Mortgages were being given out to people who couldn't afford them. They were luring people into situations they didn't have to be in. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that 62 percent of the people who were lured into subprime mortgages qualified for normal mortgages, for prime mortgages.
Luring people into a situation that was far more costly to them, knowing full well they couldn't pay for it -- that's the heart of this, Wolf, more than anything else, is this housing crisis.
DODD: And it's national in scope. The values are declining, as much as 30 percent over the next year or so. That's a major blow to the country. That's why you've got these --
BLITZER: A lot of people, Senator Kyl in Arizona, in the housing market out there, they're suffering big-time right now. How much of the blame, and I know you're a blunt guy, how much of the blame does the Bush administration deserve for allowing this kind of situation to deteriorate, as it has?
KYL: Virtually none.
BLITZER: Why?
KYL: We've been predicting for years that this problem would come along. When I was chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, we wrote papers on it.
