Why Am I Not Surprised?

In a recent investigation conducted by the NAACP, researchers found that Wells Fargo Bank and HSBC steered more African Americans than whites to subprime loans for home purchases and refinancing. The NAACP is filing a class action suit against these banks and other small banks who engaged in these discriminatory practices. Why I am not surprised?

The neanderthals remaining in the party of ideas continue to whine that the financial morass we are in is largely due to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae writing large checks to poor black families to buy homes they could not afford. Or it is due to the large amounts of money handed to black businesses through the Community Reinvestment Act. The majority of subprime loans were originated by non-CRA covered financial institutions. In fact, only about 25 percent of sub-prime loans were made by institutions covered by CRA. Over 85% of foreclosed properties have nothing to do with Fannie or Freddie.

The myth is retold over and over again on talk radio that Clinton started it all by forcing both lenders to throw away any due diligence in lending procedures so that inner cities blacks and ACORN somehow could use those funds to engage in voter fraud to elect Barack Obama. I know its convoluted and paranoid but consider the source.

Now we learn some of our most respected commercial lenders engaged in discriminatory practices by steering African American to riskier loan products even though their credit ratings were equal to their white counterparts. This is flat out disgusting. I do wonder if the loan execs at Wells Fargo and HSBC got their obligatory bonuses for their racist lending practices. It would not surprise me. This is a classic example of racial prejudice reinforced by discriminatory business practices, Give poor blacks loans they cannot afford resulting in higher default rates. You know the rest of the story.