Statism 3:16

Always amusing when the statists pick up their Bible (that of the paleo-God variety) and start thumping away. Of course, in reality it is just another smug tool in the governmentalist tool-box to use in advancing the agenda.

One wonders if this parable will make it into the "official" canon once the whole story is written. From 1999:

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

....

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

Of course there was a voice in the wilderness who spoke up at the time, no doubt he was dragooned as a "neo-con":

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Perhaps this particular tale can be filed under "Warm destinations and the well-designed roads which help one get there".