This enlightening Wall Street Journal editorial today explains the origins of the subprime lending troubles — federal legislation designed to help the poor get credit and the Federal Reserve’s gusher of money — and how powerful politicians like Barney Frank now intend to capitalize on the mess by enacting still more legislation intended to “protect” the poor against making bad decisions.
What Frank and many others like him count on is that most voters don’t understand the causes of economic problems and therefore won’t insist that their so-called representatives repeal the bad laws that are at the root of those problems.
In this instance, the proposed “solution” is doubly offensive because it would encourage more litigation, in turn further enriching the trial bar, which will then channel some of the loot back into the campaign coffers of their political protectors in Washington.