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Searching For Answers To Wall Street's Debacle

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange moments after the opening bell Oct. 13, 2008 in New York City. Following a rise in global markets, the Dow finished with a historic 936-point gain.
Spencer Platt
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange moments after the opening bell Oct. 13, 2008 in New York City. Following a rise in global markets, the Dow finished with a historic 936-point gain.

As Wall Street struggles to rebound in the midst of the U.S. economic meltdown, pundits and analysts are still searching for answers as to what led to the collapse.

Most agree that one of the key factors in the credit crisis is the large number high-cost, sub-prime mortgages with ballooning interest rates that borrowers are increasingly unable to repay. But that's where the agreement ends.

Progressives say unscrupulous, predatory lenders have been pushing these mortgages on unsuspecting homebuyers; increasingly some conservative analysts say the real culprit is a federal law designed to encourage more lending in low and moderate income neighborhoods.

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John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Stan Liebowitz, professor of economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, discuss the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, and why it is starting to get some of the blame.

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