Skip to main content

Bush Administration's Answer to Credit Crisis is too Little, too Late

April 1, 2008
Blog

Last Friday President Bush traveled to New Jersey to encourage residents to seek free credit counseling if they face the threat of losing their homes. While the credit counseling is good advice, the president's actions are simply too little, too late.

For months, the president has known that the housing and subprime mortgage crisis could force more than 2 million people to lose their homes over the next five years. Until yesterday, the president was unwilling to address this crisis in any way. This is nothing new. For seven years now, the Bush administration has taken a hands-off approach to Wall Street, allowing the corporations responsible for much of this mortgage crisis to work under the radar without any government oversight or regulation.

Finally, the administration recognized yesterday that the President's credit counseling advice was not going to be enough. Treasury Secretary Paulson announced a proposal that finally calls for the regulation of these financial institutions. But again, this is too little, too late.

The House has already acted and will continue to pass legislation that will help homeowners today. I would hope the president would support our efforts.