Barney Frank

Liar.

Who in the press will call him on it?

[Mid-afternoon update]

Nick Gillespie has more thoughts:

Frank is nothing less than a trickster figure in American politics, especially for us libertarians who believe that economic and civil liberties are conjoined at the hip, the Chang and Eng of what makes this miserable world worth suffering through. As the comment above suggests, Frank is as good as it gets on most lifestyle issues (indeed, he even had Reason’s Radley Balko testify about repealing online gambling bans) and yet he’s a real lummox when it comes to economic freedom. His role in the banking and housing crisis is genuinely godawful. Not only did he strongarm mortgage companies to extend more and more credit to shakier and shakier customers, he did so all while denying anything was amiss at the government-sponsored behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that literally underwrote the mortgage mess.

And Frank’s at his worst again, now pushing The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009, which critics charge would vastly increase the level of complexity in lending and make it more difficult for low-income borrowers and others to get access to credit.

As a commenter notes, being a lummox on economic freedom is a problem of the Dems in general.

6 thoughts on “Barney Frank”

  1. Will Bill White call him on it. We know how much Bill complained about Republican ethics during the same period.

  2. Both the social progressiveness and the economic regressiveness come from the exact same place – the person holding the view that they are better and smarter than the sheeple and therefore should force the sheeple in to doing what’s “right”. I consider Frank just as coercive on social issues as economic, it just happens that many libertarians don’t see the former because the general direction is one they agree with.

  3. C’mon Bill, throw Barney “anti-human spaceflight” Frank under the bus.

    You know you want to and you know he deserves to be there.

  4. Credit doesn’t help the working poor out very much.

    How does 28% APR plus punitive fees help out
    most people?

  5. jack lee Says:
    April 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    “Credit doesn’t help the working poor out very much.

    How does 28% APR plus punitive fees help out
    most people?”

    That’s great Jack Lee. Your doing a really good job! *clap*

    *aside — I’m assuming at this point he is a product of our positive reinforcement education system and this is the only thing he will comprehend. I am only considering this since he has so far seemed impervious to any logic and reasoning whatsoever.

  6. Jack lee is right. What helps the working poor are:

    1. Walmart.
    2. Low energy prices – drill here, drill now and more nuclear plants.
    3. Walmart.
    4. A strong growing economy propelled by lower taxes on the wealthy, lower taxes on corporate gains, lower corporate taxes, plus dramatic cuts in regulatory burden.
    5. Walmart.
    6. Inexpensive catastrophic health insurance with prices not bulked up by special interest rent seeking – mental health professionals I mean you!
    7. Walmart.

    Generally speaking the working poor should avoid credit like the plague.

    Yours,
    Tom DeGisi, aka Wince and Nod

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