"Idiots and Liars"

UPDATE: Barry Ritholtz notes in the comments that he "took the vitriol down a notch," so I've replaced the old excerpt with Barry's new and slightly less vitriolic version. It's still pretty scathing though, and it calls out the hacks for their idiocy and/or mendacity. And they richly deserve it.

Barry Ritholtz lays down the law on the Fannie/Freddie/CRA line:

Those who continue to blame the CRA, Fannie Mae, etc. reveal their fundamental misunderstanding of how credit operates in general, what the financing process was like from 2002-07, and how this situation came to pass. Or worse, they understand it, and choose to lie about it anyway for partisan political purposes.

You either understand these simple facts, or you don't. If you cannot comprehend this, well, then, I am at a loss as to what that says about your cognitive functioning. But if you understand this, but spit out the nonsense anyway, then you are merely a partisan with no respect for the truth.

And that seems to be the main people blaming the CRA and Fannie/Freddie for the credit/housing crisis -- those folks who either can't think -- or wont.

Preach it, Barry.