In what must surely be the most satisfying piece he has ever written for the Wall Street Journal, Paul Gigot here reflects on the history of his paper’s efforts to show that trouble was brewing at Fannie Mae years ago. Fannie’s political henchmen (mostly Democrats) labored feverishly to discredit the Journal’s reporting and silence politicians who wanted to turn over the rock and see what was really going on.
This sort of crony capitalism enriches a few well-connected people at the expense of the rest of us. If you’ve ever wondered why so many rich people are willing to make huge political donations, that’s often the reason. Politics enables them to feed gustily at the public trough.
There was never any reason for the feds to subsidize home ownership. All of this waste and folly would have been avoided if the federal government hadn’t gotten into this area (and so many others) where it has no business intruding.
