In one of the more comical efforts to characterize the current financial crisis as something other than a massive market failure, some conservatives have decided that the real blame lies not with greedy Wall Street financiers, but with the Community Reinvestment Act, a 1977 law aimed at getting banks to extend credit to residents of poor communities. Now, you might think it was silly to suggest that a law enacted in 1977 caused a massive increase in subprime lending followed by a financial meltdown over a quarter century later. And you'd be right. Robert Gordon debunks this pathetic argument.