Bloomberg Under Fire for 2008 Comments Blaming Mortgage Crisis on End of Redlining

Former Republican New York City Mayor and current Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is under fire for comments he made in 2008 blaming the mortgage crisis on the end of the discriminatory practice of “redlining,” even as his newly-unearthed remarks defending “stop and frisk” have caused a firestorm.

Even as his campaign reels from the unearthed audio in which he defended “stop and frisk” in offensive terms, Bloomberg is now dealing with comments he made at a 2008 forum at Georgetown University in which he placed blame for the start of the mortgage crisis on the end of redlining.

Moderator and Georgetown University President John DeGioia asked Bloomberg, “How did we get here; what are the root causes of the mortgage crisis?”

“It all started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone,” Bloomberg said, and added, “Redlining, if you remember, was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said, ‘People in these neighborhoods are poor, they’re not going to be able to pay off their mortgages, tell your salesmen don’t go into those areas.’”

“And then Congress got involved — local elected officials, as well — and said, ‘Oh that’s not fair, these people should be able to get credit.'” Bloomberg continued, “And once you started pushing in that direction, banks started making more and more loans where the credit of the person buying the house wasn’t as good as you would like.”

That clip circulated heavily online Wednesday and Thursday and became national news, throwing up yet another hurdle for Bloomberg’s presidential bid.

The former mayor got a lot of attention earlier this week for shooting past most of the field — save former Vice President Joe Biden — in support among black voters nationally, but then his comments about “stop and frisk” emerged. Redlining has been a frequent topic on the campaign trail for other candidates who have suggested plans to remedy the harm done to African Americans by the practice.

In the remainder of the 2008 exchange, Bloomberg goes on to discuss other factors that led to the crisis — including the emergence of mortgage-backed securities, which he called “innovative — and to excuse the behavior of the banks as careless.

Watch the full exchange above via ForaTV.