John McCain co-sponsored a bill to increase oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005. The bill did not become law.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN00190:@@@P
What other actions were taken to avert this crises?
If you have been watching the debates, you know that Republicans and President Bush have been consistently blamed for not supporting "regulation". You be the judge.
Two more points -
If you are not familiar with it, learn more about the community reinvestment act. This act requires banks to loan money to underserved areas - a worthy goal, except by definition these loans are then often given to those who cannot pay back the loan and would not qualify otherwise. If the economy turns, these types of loans are often the first to go unpaid. Home ownership is part of the American Dream, but should only be pursued by those who are in a financial position to do so.
Also, the current situation shows the fallacy of GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises). Businesses must be explicitly public or private - half and half does not work, and ends up requiring massive government intervention when times turn bad. Of course, when the government is willing to spend 800 billion for "bailouts", are any of these financial companies really private any more?
There's plenty of blame to go around, but let's make sure we are grounded in the facts before we start making accusations.
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