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The 2008 Subprime Mortgage Crash and Response by Fed

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The 2008 Subprime Mortgage Crash and response by the Federal Government
Philip J. Scanlon
University of Redlands

Conditions leading the Subprime Mortgage Crash
Many factors contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis, a disruptive economic downturn that its severity can be compared to the Great Depression. Only federal intervention prevented a possible collapse of the world economic system. Ironically, it can be said that federal intervention in the mortgage industry led to the 2008 collapse. By backing risky mortgages, the government created a new systemic financial contagion that began in the housing market, moved through financial and investment markets, and created a loss of confidence in the financial system on which our economy is based.

The following conditions created the crisis:
1. For the government, home ownership kept neighborhoods safe and clean because neighbors, in protecting their property, also protected neighborhoods. Government backed loans were offered to otherwise at risk lenders home ownership to strengthen communities, especially low income communities.
2. The government encouraged lenders to extend riskier loans to those more economically disadvantaged and therefore less likely to honor debt obligations. By guaranteeing the loans, the government allayed concerned bankers and other lenders. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, backed by the federal government, allowed financial institutes to sell mortgages as secure investments, creating a new financial production, mortgage securitization.
3. Homeowners saw that housing was booming since the late 1990s and buying a home was a logical route to financial security and wealth. Homeowners were willing to sign for adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) with interest rates tied to fluctuation of the prime interest rate. (Pennington-Cross, 2004) Homeowners, acting as agents of their own self interest,

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