But to be fair, Bush's administration did nothing to stop the real estate bubble, the subprime loans and the related bonds, nor did they try to regulate the hugely inflated derivative markets.
Yes, I think that it is important to note, that Bush was a VERY inactive president and had a weak spine. He was so intent on pleasing the Dems in order to keep their waning support for his war, that he RARELY rocked the boat when it came to all the fiscally liberal agenda, including the CRA.
As far as the derivative market, derivatives were not the CAUSE, but they make the SYMPTOMS worse. I do see a need for regulation on derivatives and how leveraged they can be, but it is an extremely small piece of this recession. OUR GOVERNEMENT CAUSED THIS RECESSION. It created something unnatural that would have NEVER occurred had market forces been in place. There will always be stupid banks making bad loans, and unfortunately, we have to pay the burden for their stupidity and shortsightedness, but when the government mandates that all the large banks lend in an irresponsible manner, in a way that they had NEVER lent before, and never WOULD lend, they need to be held responsible.
If you dont beleive me how significant the CRA was, read this article written in 2000.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html Its quite scarey how the backers beleived they could re-make the mortgage industry and FORCE it to lend to the poor and certain minorities.