Don Boudreaux sends this letter to the New York Times (which is almost certainly futile since the Times rarely runs letters from those who don’t share its statist views, but sometimes you just have to speak out):
To the Editor:
According to your headline, Congress is “angry” over the “the steep cost” of the
bailout plan (“Talks On Bailout Plan Advance; Congress Is Angry and Skeptical,”
September 23). While I understand that members of this body are actors by
trade, I wish that in this case they’d spare us their histrionics. This mess is
largely their fault.
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Charles Calomiris and Peter Wallison report that
Congress, seeking to promote “affordable housing,” encouraged Fannie and Freddie
to make irresponsible loans. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) crowed in 2003 that
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have played a very useful role in helping to make
housing more affordable … a mission that this Congress has given them in
return for some of the arrangements which are of some benefit to them to focus
on affordable housing.” As Messrs. Calomiris and Wallison add: “The hint to
Fannie and Freddie was obvious: Concentrate on affordable housing and, despite
your problems, your congressional support is secure.”*
The chickens now coming home to roost were genetically engineered by Congress.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Bravo, Don. Politics is mostly theater, with the actors trying to deceive and manipulate gullible voters
