Neil Bush
What was the Savings and Loans Crisis? (click here)
The Savings and Loans Crisis created the greatest banking collapse since the Great Depression of 1929. By 1989, over half the Savings and Loans had failed, along with the FSLIC fund that was created to insure their deposits.
Empire Savings in Texas revealed land flips and other criminal activities. Half of the failed S&L's were from Texas, pushing that state into recession. As bad land investments were auctioned off, real estate prices collapsed, office vacancy rose to 30%, and crude oil prices fell 50%....
...Five U.S. Senators, known as the Keating Five, were investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee for improper conduct. They had accepted $1.5 million in campaign contributions from Charles Keating, head of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. They had also put pressure on the Federal Home Loan Banking Board, who was investigating possible criminal activities at Lincoln....The current economic crisis (click title to entry - thank you) demands that we understand John McCain's attitudes about economic oversight and corporate influence in federal regulation. Nothing illustrates the danger of his approach more clearly than his central role in the savings and loan scandal of the late '80s and early '90s....
