We've done our part to point out that the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) did not -- I repeat, did not -- lead to the current economic crisis. But the myth just keeps cropping up in conservative circles. Last Friday, the Daily Herald published a bevy of interviews with suburban congressional candidates, as well as those at the statehouse level. Lo and behold, when asked what steps Congress should take to promote economic recovery, 14th District Republican candidate Jim Oberweis blamed the CRA for all the nation's problems.

From the Q&A:

In large measure, the financial crisis we're now facing is a crisis created by the unintended consequences of earlier Congressional and governmental action - so before we go about creating new "fixes," let's all take a breath and figure out how we got here in the first place, and do what we can to avoid mistakes the second time around. [...]

So, how did we get here? The Clinton Administration's decision to take a Carter-era law -- the Community Redevelopment Act -- and pump it up, made it easier for sub-prime borrowers (read: greater credit risks) to obtain loans, while simultaneously making it harder for lenders to deny them such loans. The result? Lots of bad loans were made.

Here's a tip, Jim: if you're going to baselessly suggest that a 30-year old law precipitated our current meltdown, you should probably remember the correct name of the legislation.

On a related note, the Campaign For America's Future released an exhaustive, point-by-point rebuttal of the CRA myth last night. Definitely worth a read.