Hmm...

[elfs]

In a review of the book Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon, Jeff Madrick and Frank Portnoy write a scathing pushback against the book's thesis that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or positive regulatory policies, bear the brunt of the responsibility for the market shock of 2008:

Private lenders made far riskier loans than GSEs [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - elf] bought or guaranteed, especially during the 1990s, when subprimes issued to borrowers with low income and poor credit were relatively new. You will not read in Reckless Endangerment that the GSEs bought very few subprimes in these years. Rather than leading the way, Fannie’s market share of the low-income home buyers fell behind private industry’s far riskier lending to poorer home owners and others.

The increased risk-taking of the GSEs during the 1990s, far more modest than what was to come in the 2000s in the private sector, had no bearing on the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008.

...

The GSEs never took nearly the risks that the private market took. Still, when housing prices collapsed so sharply, even modestly risky and traditionally safe mortgages produced losses. The risky lending was not driven by the affordable lending goals; nor did it cause the crisis.

...

Contrary to many commentators on Reckless Endangerment, and to its chief claims, it was Wall Street, not the GSEs, that fundamentally caused the 2007–2008 crisis, which was driven not merely by a headlong pursuit of easy profit but also by ethically dubious practices.

Hmm... I currently have this book on hold at the library. It's hold #108 on 40 copies. It'll be a while before I get my hands on it. #Should I cancel the hold?