Picked up a copy of the FCIC report on my way the evening before its official release (took a shot that a local Barnes & Noble would have it out, and they did), and I’m locked in after reading only the first 50 or so pages. The report can be downloaded in PDF here.
Not that it will change any ideologues’ minds, but the FCIC does weigh in early on the Community Reinvestment Act (Page 27 of the PDF):
The Commission concludes the CRA was not a significant factor in subprime lending or the crisis. Many subprime lenders were not subject to the CRA. Research indicates only 6% of high-cost loans—a proxy for subprime loans—had any connection to the law. Loans made by CRA-regulated lenders in the neighborhoods in which they were required to lend were half as likely to default as similar loans made in the same neighborhoods by independent mortgage originators not subject to the law.
But the facts have never gotten in the way of a good canard.
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