I guess I should have been more explicit. I didn't mean to strike a partisan nerve. I didn't mean to say that the CRA was the only cause for the housing bubble

I guess I should have been more explicit. I didn't mean to strike a partisan nerve. I didn't mean to say that the CRA was the only cause for the housing bubble. There were a lot of factors that lead to the housing bubble. My point was that the CRA was the beginning of a decade long non-partisan policy shift that signaled to regulators, Wall Street, etc. that owning a home was an unqualified good thing and looser standards for lending against homes should be encouraged. Once the government and regulators signal to Wall Street other investors that they are encouraging the deployment of capital to a new, loosely regulated asset class it creates a dangerous environment.