October 14, 2008

We know the causes of the economic meltdown: greed, a failure to regulate by those charged with oversight and a too-close association between quasi-government agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the politicians who had authority over them.

An outside bipartisan panel should be appointed to confirm the reasons for the collapse and recommend strong measures to insure this won’t happen again. That’s what happened following the Great Depression.

Among the recommendations should be the elimination of political action committees by any agency that is the subject of government oversight. This is an invitation to corruption which is precisely what we have seen. Fannie and Freddie contributed money to politicians and politicians failed to apply the necessary regulations to them.

In addition, the push for minority home ownership was so strong over several administrations that people who should not have qualified for loans were given them just so politicians could brag about an increase in minority home ownership. Let the study begin and let’s have some real oversight this time.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.