Nah, It had Nothing to do with the Government

Check out this New York Times piece from 1999 that is astonishingly prescient and gets right at the role of the looser loan requirements at Fannie Mae (as part of a Clinton era mandate to expand affordable housing) in generating the mortgage boom and now bust.

Key paragraph:

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

HT to a former student.