When the Tea Party got rolling, some of the anti-government furor was directed at Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank for being a primary mover behind the mortgage mess, because he pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promote mortgages for low income Americans and immigrants. The commercial banks practiced predatory lending, and the investment banks turned sub-prime mortgages into risky securities, but it’s true that Barney Frank shares some of the blame, as explained in this interview with Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times, on NPR’s Fresh Air program.
[audio:http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/fa/2011/05/20110524_fa_01.mp3|titles=Fresh Air: Gretchen Morgenson on ‘Reckless Endangerment’]