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Don't Blame Deregulation For Housing Mess
...When the housing boom was going along merrily, Rep. Barney Frank was proud to be one of those who were pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into more adventurous financial practices, in the name of "affordable housing."

In 2003 he said:

"I believe that we, as the federal government, have probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing and to set reasonable goals."

He added:

"I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing."

In other words, when things were looking good, he was happy to acknowledge the role of the federal government in pushing the housing market in a direction it would not have taken on its own.

But, after the risky mortgage-lending practices fostered by government intervention led to massive defaults and foreclosures that caused financial institutions to collapse or be bailed out, Frank changed his tune completely.

By 2007, his line was now that "the subprime crisis demonstrates the serious negative economic and social consequences that result from too little regulation."

By 2008, his line was that the financial crisis was caused by "bad decisions that were made by people in the private sector."

When television financial reporter Maria Bartiromo reminded Frank of his statements in earlier years, he simply denied making the statements she quoted and blamed "right-wing Republicans who took the position that regulation was always bad."...