They go to their houses wearing fake Afros and threaten to steal their Hummers and do their wives.

They didn’t force, they allowed them to. Bankers want to give out more loans because than they make more money off the interest. Clinton passed a law that allowed banks to give loans out to anybody regardless of whether or not they could afford it.

do some research on “The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005.”

This is the act that McCain co sponsored and that the Democrats prevented. It very well may have headed off today’s problems.

I would say McCain knows more about the economy than he even thinks.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-190&tab=summary

The Democrats Favored big buisness and deregulation and their guy Phil Gramm point was pivotal in encouraging the corporate practices that led to the 2008 mortgage crises in America. Which made big bucks for the banks and mortgage companys.
Wait a minute…. deregulation?? That was the republicans.

Neither party had designs on “forcing” banks to do this. The banks, operating under their own free will, found it profitable to extend these loans — especially in the last ten years. There has been a serious and increasing lack of regualtion, in general, since the George H. Bush administartion. This would include the Clinton administration and the George W. Bush administartion. Lack of oversight and dependence on Federal accomodations from both parties permitted — importantly, did not force — banks to take risks they would not have if they had been left to the hazards of an actual open market. In short, both parties, over the last 24 years (of which arguably the Republicans have had more control over the situation) have taken a paternalistic posture toward finance rather than toward the lower middle classes.

“The Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, requires federally regulated depositories (e.g. banks and thrifts) to provide loans, investment capital and other financial services to neighborhoods that had long been undeserved by financial service providers, but to do so consistent with safe and sound lending practices”

A report of the amounts actual lent under the law is available at
http://www.ffiec.gov/hmcrpr/cra_fs05.htm
It looks like the loan amounts was about 300 billion a year., however in a 10 trillion dollar mortgage market is not a large amount. As I understand it is mostly small Business loans and has been around since 1977. so maybe you are thinking some thing else.

Edit: I live in a neighborhood that was red lined by all except one bank in the city, and they required a 30% down payment. The house values here has risen at more than twice the rate of surrounding suburbs, so the assumption that all loans made in red lined neighborhood were a bad risk is false.

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