Economic crisis is NOT Fannie and Freddie's fault

Lately one of the only anti-Obama talking points actually concerning the economy has literally blamed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the entire economic problem we're having now (okay, it's not just a problem, but it gets tiresome to use the same words all the time...I promise I'll call it a "catastrophe" next time I reference it, okay?).

Problem is, this is completely wrong. McClatchy explains:

Commentators say that's what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They've specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie's and Freddie's financial problems.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Subprime lending offered high-cost loans to the weakest borrowers during the housing boom that lasted from 2001 to 2007. Subprime lending was at its height from 2004 to 2006.

Federal Reserve Board data show that:

• More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.
• Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year.
• Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing law that's being lambasted by conservative critics.

(okay, I replaced the weird underscores with real bullets, and an errant finger that typed "vrom" instead of "from", but the above quote is accurate otherwise)

On top of this, the people coming up with these bogus claims don't realize that Fannie/Freddy don't actually loan any money themselves:

Fannie, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., don't lend money, to minorities or anyone else, however. They purchase loans from the private lenders who actually underwrite the loans.

The Republican administration wasn't criticizing Fannie/Freddie when they were in the thick of the problem, though:

...at the height of the housing boom in 2005 and 2006, Republicans and their party's standard bearer, President Bush, didn't criticize any sort of lending, frequently boasting that they were presiding over the highest-ever rates of U.S. homeownership.

But what about before "subprime lending was at its height" in 2004? Well, let's see what Bush had to say about the kinds of things (lending to minorities, etc.) that the anti-Obama crowd have blamed on Fannie/Freddie. The following speech was made in 2002:

Does any of this sound familiar? It should.

It's really pathetic and telling about the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the anti-Obama crowd's points when they all seem to turn out to be nonsense.