Angelides effectively censored any hard evidence that the government's housing policies were the predominant cause of the financial crisis. The best-selling report was cooked up from the start.
"The FCIC majority misused its mandate for political purposes," Wallison writes, adding that the panel made sure its findings supported Democrat demands for a "new New Deal" that would put even more of the banking industry under federal control.
Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010, six months before the FCIC released its report — "a clear demonstration that the Democratic Congress knew well in advance exactly what this well-controlled commission would say." After Dodd-Frank shockingly left Fannie and Freddie untouched, the FCIC excused the glaring oversight by exonerating the toxic twins and their affordable-housing masters at HUD.
As a result, Fannie and Freddie, now under full federal control, are back making low down payment loans to low-income borrowers, and the Dodd-Frank-mandated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is forcing banks to ignore credit risks in the name of affordable housing.
A corrupt investigation led to corrupt reforms. What we need now, in light of Wallison's revelations, is an investigation of the investigation, along with a top-to-bottom review of Dodd-Frank rules. It's necessary that Republicans hold public hearings so Americans will know how they were lied to about the crisis and how they're being led down the garden path.