Sandlers Make Time’s “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis” List

Although it’s mostly just mindless business bashing by liberal journalists who have little understanding of how markets actually work, Time magazine’s “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis,” is worth a gander.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are on the list (and they deserve to be to varying degrees) but so are Herb and Marion Sandler, the liberal philanthropists who somehow convinced Wachovia to buy their troubled financial institution that was built on shaky exotic mortgage products. The Sandlers, who were lampooned by “Saturday Night Live,” (see video grab above) are key members of George Soros’s secretive Democracy Alliance, which aims to speed America down the path to socialism. Because they’ve done so much for the cause, maybe the Democracy Alliance should waive their membership dues for the next few years. (Soros himself should be on the list for funding so many groups that push left-wing economic policies.)

David Lereah, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, was definitely a good choice for inclusion on the list. For years, despite mounting evidence of unsustainable year-over-year increases in real estate values, Lereah insisted there was no housing bubble. When I was a financial reporter and attended the trade group’s morning briefings until 2005 or 2006, I often asked about the bubble and always the answer was that there appear to be some minor speculative bubbles in some regions. Nothing to be concerned about nationally, he would always say.

Conspicuously absent from the list is Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), a socialist lawmaker who doesn’t care whether a policy works as long as it advances his vision of so-called social justice. For years Frank relentlessly shilled for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and pushed to strengthen the disastrous Community Reinvestment Act.