BFFs Till the End
September 17th, 2008
Most economist will agree that one of the primary reasons we find ourselves in this economic crisis is primarily due to the practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (i.e. the mortgage crisis) and NOT deregulation.
These mortgage lenders, and their “open border” style lending policies, which were ventilated by members of BOTH parties (but primarily begun by the Clinton administration and then continued by Bush), have basically caused the collapse of the housing market to such an extent that it has been naturally followed by the consequences that tend to follow said nebulous practices. Of course, “greed” in Wall Street is also part of the equation, a factor that clearly advocates for TRUE deregulation (i.e. NO BAIL OUTS nor corporate welfare), but then again, “greed” is the primary purpose of engaging in the speculative markets.
The question is, why and how did our politicians allow these corporate ‘monsters’ to “relax” their lending practices and lead us into this mess? The answer may be quite complex, but one of the main reasons lies within the social agenda of the Neo Liberals. Their obsession with making things “fair” and “equal” to the “average home owner” caused these unscrupulous lenders to see an opening that they could exploit, and thus they began to hand out countless loans to people who frankly couldn’t (and shouldn’t) afford them, thus creating a bubble that has recently blown in America’s face. As we all know, these same lenders would in turn sell these loans to China, Japan, and other banking vultures around the world.
So who are the top and true BFFs (”Best Friends Forever”) of the mortgage industry?
As we can assume, Fannie and Freddie had countless lobbyist in Washington, spreading money around like hot cakes to any politician who was willing to do their biding and continue these practices. The Center for Responsive Politics, a non partisan watchdog organization, has discovered that of all the lawmakers in Washington who have received money from both of these institutions, within the span of 19 years, the top three beneficiaries have been Democrats. Who, you may ask, and in what order?
1 = Chris Dodd: $165,400
2 = Barack Obama: $126,349
3 = John Kerry: $111,000
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL LIST OF THE LAWMAKERS INVOLVED
The above numbers reflect the contributions made to all lawmakers, from 1989 to 2008. This means that Barack Obama has basically surpassed every other lawmaker in Washington (the list is quite large) that has ever received (lobbyist) money from these institutions, even though he has only been there for a short 4 years (most of the time running for President). Obama even surpassed John Kerry, who has been in the Senate for more than 20 years (and many others who have been there for more than 40!)!
But Obama’s corrupt complicity to the economic crisis that we face today does NOT stop with the lobbyists and ‘cooperative’ executives who continously donate to his campaign. Obama also hired Jim Johnson as an economic adviser and as his chief Vice Presidential vetter. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Johnson headed up a power trifecta: mortgage giant Fannie Mae, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Brookings Institution, one of the city’s most prominent think tanks. Mr. Johnsons’ relationship with the embattled CEO of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, to his more recent oversight roles on various corporate compensation committees that approved hefty executive pay packages, have all linked this individual directly to our most recent sub prime mortgage debacles. Johnson also received at least $7 million worth of home loans from Countrywide through an informal program for friends of company CEO Angelo Mozilo, that offered rates below the market average
Obama’s current financial adviser, and sub prime mortgage “super star” Penny Pritzker, whose bank actually targeted minority customers for their schemes, also gives us a good preview of what his Presidential cabinet might look like. Clearly, Jim Johnson fits right into this crew of sleazy corporate/banking special interests, who have been clearly at fault for our current economic woes, and who have sufferend abosolutely NO CONSEQUENCE for their dirty dealings (they even got a “promotion” to work with “The One”).
We must then ask ourselves: Do we really want to elect a man who, even though has NO concrete legislative accomplishments during his short time in the Senate, has nonetheless been able to reach the NUMBER 2 spot in accepting money from the main culprits of the financial crisis in which we find ourselves in? Do we want to elect a man who claims to have the necessary “judgment” to “understand” our economy, but nevertheless surrounds himself with the worst examples of the “greed” and corruption that has tainted it? Of course NOT.
Let’s then look at the other side of the coin, and see if there was ANYONE in the Senate who actually ‘blew the whistle’ on what was coming our way and tried to do something about it:
McCain saw the handwriting on the walls, three years ago!!!
John McCain was one of three Republicans in the U.S. Senate to sponsor the bill. Rising to propose the legislation, Senator McCain’s words now sound prophetic:
Senator McCain Speaks in Support ofThe FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005
The United States SenateMay 25, 2006
“Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.”
McCain took action in 2005 that might have helped us avoid the severity of this current financial crisis. Democrats also took action in 2005…and stopped McCain’s reforms.
What finally happened to this legislation????? Despite Democrat opposition to that measure, the bill passed the House, but could not get a vote in the Senate even after the anti-lobbying provision was removed.
After learning about the historical FACT above, it is quite a wonder how the Mainstream Media has chosen to ‘conveniently’ ignore it, and have thus allow Barack Obama to continue selling his propaganda about “knowing what the problem is” and allowing him to tell the American public that John McCain is somehow “out of touch” with this problem, even though it was him, AND NOT OBAMA, who actually ACTED in an attempt to save us from this debacle.
It is thus our duty to inform the public about John McCain’s record and his warning to the Nation in 2005. It is also CRUCIAL that we let America know how a junior Senator from Illinois, who has not even finished his first term in office, has been actually able to reach the status of Fannie Mae’s “friendliest” lawmakers. It is obvious that if you want ANY SORT of reform in our government, Obama IS NOT the man for the job.
Spread the word!
2 comments:
yeah! its much better,
very cool.
Post a Comment