Jack Kemp, the Buffalo Republican who ran as Bob Dole’s running mate in 1996 died Saturday (May 2nd, 2009) at the age of 73.
Kemp was a Moderate Republican and the architect of what became “The Ownership Society" an idea embraced by both Liberal Democratic and Liberal Republican idealists alike, though for different reasons.
Moderate Republicans like Dole, Kemp and the Bush’s all earnestly sought ways to decrease the homeownership gap that long existed between blacks and whites, in hopes that the responsibilities of homeownership would “create more responsible, goal-oriented, Conservative Americans across the board.”
The Republican vision was a noble, if naïve one, while the Liberal Democratic vision was somewhat more nefarious.
Stalwart Liberals like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd didn’t give a hoot about “closing the racial homeownership gap,” though if that mantra could be used to empower ever more government over banks and other lenders, THAT fit their view just fine.
Even before the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, Congressional Democrats sought to “work with G W Bush” on one of his favorite projects, expanding homeownership.
The result was the feds pressuring banks and mortgage lenders to relax their lending criteria and “sweetened” that deal by having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase their share of the mortgage market from 24% to just under 51%...almost ALL of that increase coming in the form of these new, high-risk, subprime loans!
Then Freddie Mac packaged that bad debt as CMOs (Collateralized Mortgage Obligations), usually one of the safest bets in bygone times, and those CMOs and CDOs backed/insured by the AIG-inspired Credit Default Swap, triggered the current and ongoing global credit crisis.
One of Murphy’s Laws went, “When a politician gets an idea, he usually gets it wrong,” but since Reagan and Gingrich have largely proved that wrong, that law should probably be amended to, “When a LIBERAL gets an idea, he ALWAYS gets it wrong.”
For the record, Jack Kemp played no part in, nor seemed to approve of the 2005 – 2008 era of legalized “counterfeiting of credit.”
Kemp’s idea was an earnest one. It’s just that it came to be so very badly and in many instances (nefariously) implemented.
Kemp was a Moderate Republican and the architect of what became “The Ownership Society" an idea embraced by both Liberal Democratic and Liberal Republican idealists alike, though for different reasons.
Moderate Republicans like Dole, Kemp and the Bush’s all earnestly sought ways to decrease the homeownership gap that long existed between blacks and whites, in hopes that the responsibilities of homeownership would “create more responsible, goal-oriented, Conservative Americans across the board.”
The Republican vision was a noble, if naïve one, while the Liberal Democratic vision was somewhat more nefarious.
Stalwart Liberals like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd didn’t give a hoot about “closing the racial homeownership gap,” though if that mantra could be used to empower ever more government over banks and other lenders, THAT fit their view just fine.
Even before the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, Congressional Democrats sought to “work with G W Bush” on one of his favorite projects, expanding homeownership.
The result was the feds pressuring banks and mortgage lenders to relax their lending criteria and “sweetened” that deal by having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase their share of the mortgage market from 24% to just under 51%...almost ALL of that increase coming in the form of these new, high-risk, subprime loans!
Then Freddie Mac packaged that bad debt as CMOs (Collateralized Mortgage Obligations), usually one of the safest bets in bygone times, and those CMOs and CDOs backed/insured by the AIG-inspired Credit Default Swap, triggered the current and ongoing global credit crisis.
One of Murphy’s Laws went, “When a politician gets an idea, he usually gets it wrong,” but since Reagan and Gingrich have largely proved that wrong, that law should probably be amended to, “When a LIBERAL gets an idea, he ALWAYS gets it wrong.”
For the record, Jack Kemp played no part in, nor seemed to approve of the 2005 – 2008 era of legalized “counterfeiting of credit.”
Kemp’s idea was an earnest one. It’s just that it came to be so very badly and in many instances (nefariously) implemented.
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