Bush Administration Forewarned of Mortgage Crises--Responce to last blog/My own Post

I remembered reading, in an article, a few days ago about how the Bush Administration was warned about all the activities going on in the housing sector and they did nothing. I was going to post a response to the last blog by COD but then I just decided why not make it my own post with the article. So I did...I would like credit for both though can we do that?

The Associated Press reported recently that the Bush Administration received ample warning from regulators to crack down on as well as some of the warnings even coming from within the housing industry itself, "Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," was a warning from California mortgage lender Paris Welch back in January 2006.

In 2005, faced with ominous signs the housing market was in jeopardy, bank regulators proposed new guidelines for banks writing risky loans. Today, in the midst of the worst housing recession in a generation, the proposal reads like a list of what-ifs:

-Regulators told bankers exotic mortgages were often inappropriate for buyers with bad credit.

-Banks would have been required to increase efforts to verify that buyers actually had jobs and could afford houses.

-Regulators proposed a cap on risky mortgages so a string of defaults wouldn't be crippling.

-Banks that bundled and sold mortgages were told to be sure investors knew exactly what they were buying.

-Regulators urged banks to help buyers make responsible decisions and clearly advise them that interest rates might skyrocket and huge payments might be due sooner than expected.

However non of these recommendations were passed by Congress or signed by the president.

Now in terms of the question "How do I evaluate Mr. Bush" honestly I don't think about it much. He certainly is one of the worst presidents of all time. He has left us 3 crisis in his wake, Katrina, Iraq, and now this financial crisis. You could argue four if you wanted to count 9/11 which they also received warning about ahead of time. Those really are just the tip of the iceberg.

Prior to the 2004 election you couldn't get me to stop talking about how bad he was. He also wasn't my president. Anyone remember Florida? He definitely stole the election. But then Nov 2 2004 came and my country decided they disagreed with me. Since being in the minority (albeit a pretty large minority) who didn't think he was qualified, at least more than Kerry, I stopped complaining. The rest of my country didn't agree and that's how it works in democracy.