Fannie faced 'horrible alternatives'

Doesn't look so" well balanced "a decision to me. Looks like, take the money and run.

Oh boy my favorite subject.

There were plenty of banking regulations.

Barney, Dodd and Schumer along with Rangel and Waters have been in Washington for decades.

They put regulations in and when it pleased them turned their heads.

Until someone has the GUTS to investigate them, Washington will remain the same.

They are all preeening trying to justify their past.

We let them get away with it.

Now we have Waxman the current McCarthism on the hill.

All because he doesn't like questioning.

Waxman is the one to watch now.

Rep. Barney Frank personally called former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson regarding a cash infusion from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for the Boston based OneUnited Bank.

On November 25, 2008, following Frank’s intervention, the Treasury Department awarded $12,063,000 in bailout funds to OneUnited, which is located in Frank's district.

Without the intervention of Frank and Waters, OneUnited would be an unlikely recipient of TARP funds.

Rep. Waters (D-Ca) husband was on the board of OneUnited.

As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks in order to jump- start lending.

Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives' use.

" The bank continues to flounder and is one of the few financial institutions to have not paid dividends to the federal government in exchange for the TARP cash infusion..

They also have NOT paid back the TARP.

Frank's office called a few times with a "can one of you follow-up with him?"

Segel serves as Frank's Chief Counsel.

Another email suggests that Frank's congressional staff had "concerns" about Frank’s contacts with Treasury becoming public.

Paulson’s October 2008 calendar, which has been released separately, details calls from Frank on October 2, 3, 7, 9, 13, and 17.

Frank stated publicly he could not remember the name of the bureaucrat he contacted about OneUnited but it turned out it was Paulson.

This still - burgeoning scandal calls into question whether Rep. Frank should remain head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee.

Frank still twists arms and then places blame elsewhere.

Frank was 1/2 of the housing crisis and Dodd was the other.

When are the American taxpayers going to rid itself of this greedy for his cronies and have Frank removed from ANY power in Banking?

When is Rep. Waters going to be investigated for her role?

When?

Dodd, Chairman Of The Senate Banking Committee, Received Preferential Loans From Countrywide Financial On His Two Homes Which Saved Him $75,000. Senator Dodd received two loans in 2003 through Countrywide's V.I.P. program.

He borrowed $506,000 to refinance his Washington townhouse, and $275,042 to refinance a home in East Haddam, Connecticut.

Countrywide waived three-eighths of a point, or about $2,000, on the first loan, and one-fourth of a point, about $700, on the second, according to internal documents.

Both loans were for 30 years, with the first five years at a fixed rate.

The interest rate on the loans, originally pegged at 4.875%, was reduced to 4.25% on the Washington home and 4.5% on the Connecticut property by the time the loans were funded.

The lower rates save the senator about $58,000 on his Washington residence over the life of the loan, and $17,000 on the Connecticut home.

Like Father, Like Son, Dodd's Father Was Censured In The U.S. Senate For Personal Misappropriation Of More Than $100,000 In Campaign Funds.

Dodd, Along With Sen. Schumer And Rep. Frank Protected Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac.

Dodd Promoted Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac As Mortgage Saviors.

The double irony amid the current credit crunch is that our politicians have been promoting Fannie and Freddie as mortgage saviors even as their risk of insolvency has grown.

Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd and many others have encouraged the duo to take on even greater mortgage risk as the housing slump has unfolded.

They're the arsonists posing as firemen while putting more dry tinder around the blaze.

Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Maxine Waters along with chuck Schumer are to be INVESTIGATED?

They took your money for years to come.

They IGNORED regulations ON the books.

If you read history at all you will know that the Bush administration warned Dodd and Frank about their shenanigans with Fannie and Freddie.

Frank and Dodd kept their "baby" in control by arm twisting the banks to give 100% loans back in 2003.

No, No, Frank and Dodd said.....Fannie and Freddie are on solid ground in 2005.

When the ARM mortgages came about after 5 years 2007 and, into the future still will be felt.

Banks are NOT excused but they found that money could be made by bundling those mortgages and selling them around the world.

So who is at fault?

Americans fell into Barney and Dodd's trap with NO MONEY DOWN.

Barney and Dodd started it, kept it going and now want to cover it up with NEW laws when they didn't "oversee" their buddies hiding the perfect storm.

Obviously, the US government has lent to more people on homes than the proverbial Bailey Savings & Loan was able to with its limited funds and subjugation to Federal regulation.

Most private lenders take on the view of Mr. Potter, however, and only a government of free people would lend to 90% of those seeking homes and aspire to lend to all.

Only through our failures can we find success, because life is an experiment.

If the national debt is paid off, the US dollar returns to the gold standard, and inflationary real estate (psuedo)investment is curtailed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will flourish.

Let's tackle the problem (the National Debt), and not the symptoms.

Mudd and Levine both tried to sail these ships into a tsunami, and their ships "took on water."

Borrowing may be the only way to buy a home, but it is not the way to run a nation.

Consider the low lending standards that were a significant component of the mortgage crisis.

Lenders made millions of loans to borrowers who, under normal market conditions, weren't able to pay them off.

These decisions have cost lenders, especially leading financial institutions, tens of billions of dollars.

It is popular to take low lending standards as proof that the free market has failed, that the system that is supposed to reward productive behavior and punish unproductive behavior has failed to do so.

Yet this claim ignores that for years irrational lending standards have been forced on lenders by the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and rewarded (at taxpayers expense) by multiple government bodies.

The CRA forces banks to make loans in poor communities, loans that banks may otherwise reject as financially unsound.

Under the CRA, banks must convince a set of bureaucracies that they are not engaging in discrimination, a charge that the act encourages any CRA--recognized community group to bring forward.

Otherwise, any merger or expansion the banks attempt will likely be denied. But what counts as discrimination

Of course, lenders not only sold billions of dollars in suspect loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, contributing to their present debacle, they also retained some subprime loans themselves and sold others to Wall Street--leading to the huge banking losses we have been witnessing for months.

Given that our government was behind the wheel, influencing every aspect of the mortgage crisis, it is absurd to call today's situation the result of insufficient regulation.

The Community Reinvestment Act was pushed hard by Bill Clinton, although it originated under Jimmy Carter.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act cut down on CRA reporting requirements and upped the ante for groups such as ACORN, forcing them to disclose their relationships with local banks.

We also had the dismanteling of Glass Steagall.

The Bush administration in 2003 tried to change the system, to no avail.

Congressman Barney Frank, (D, MA ) was in the forefront of stopping the Bush proposal to take control out of Fannie and Freddie and put it into a third overseeing organization.

Frank too has emerged in the current crisis as one of the major critics of the administration.

In 1995 the Clinton administration strengthened the regulations of the Community Redevelopment Act.

The CRA enabled consumers to secure mortgages with "no verification of income or assets, little consideration of the applicant's ability to make payments, and no down payment."

As the mortgage industry grew, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government--sponsored entities, or GSEs) became a kind of "jobs program for out-of-work Democrats".

Clinton administration friends and staffers managed the GSEs including

Franklin Raines (now advisor to President Obama).

Jim Johnson, Jamie Gorelick (outspoken member of the "Bi-Partisan 9/11 Commission")and Rahm Emmanual (now Chief of Staff for President Obama).

This small group of executives paid themselves nearly $200 million in only six years’ time.

Hi SKINT, Great info.how about a story on Dodd and AIG?

Lax regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led to the mortgage companies taking on too many risky loans.

The regulations were there but Barney Frank suggested to banks that ACORN would march on them for discrimination.

It turns out it was impossible to regulate them, They were too powerful and had powerful backers, namely Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

No one knows how much will be needed to keep the companies solvent.

Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent, that it is allowing these firms to continue to exist as bastions of privilege, financed by the taxpayer.

Former Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin Raines, former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank that have helped create the monsters called Fan and Fred

Since regulator James Lockhart later on discovered that Fannie had rigged its earnings in a way that allowed it to pay huge bonuses to their executives, especially Mr. Raines who was forced to resign
.

the "Fannie Mae Gang" article wrote, "Fan and Fred" also couldn't prosper for as long as they have without the support of the political left, both in Congress and the intellectual class.

This includes Mr. Frank and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D. N.Y.) on Capitol Hill, as well as Mr. Krugman and the Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein in the press

Back in Savings & Loan crisis, we had the Keating Five.

Today in home mortgages, we have the Fannie Mae Gang.

I beleive that Freddie and Fannie are now funded by borrowed money from China.Is this True?

Wolf Blitzer asked Senator Jon Kyl, R--Arizona, a member of the Senate Finance Committee who was on the program with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D--Connecticut.

Dodd jumped in to respond himself.

"To suggest somehow that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in trouble is simply not accurate," Dodd replied.

The facts are that Fannie and Freddie are in sound situations,” Dodd said.

"They have more that adequate capital, in fact more than the law requires."

Shortly before accounting irregularities were exposed at both companies, Frank said, "I do not regard Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as problems."

After the Freddie Mac accounting scandal in 2003, Frank said, "I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis".

Predatory bankers (and there were plenty) exploited a booming housing market to give loans to people who never should have received them.

But predatory politicians forced banks to make bad loans.

Predatory politicians (and the pursuit of profits) pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying up more and more risky, subprime loans, creating incentives for mortgage providers to issue even more bad loans.

Predatory politicians took millions in campaign funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in exchange for political protection against attempts at reform.

Fannie and Freddie don’t make mortgages to individual home owners.

Instead, they purchase mortgages from banks and other mortgage providers.

The theory is that, by taking these mortgage obligations off the books of private bankers, Fannie and Freddie would free up capital for these banks to make more loans to other home buyers.

Other Nations purchased them from Fannie and Freddie.

Countries such as Iceland went broke buying them.

Countries that bought Fannie and Freddie suffered and this contributed to the world wide slide into a recession.

They thought they were secure and backed by the U.S. Government.

They are now worth about $1.00 a share.

Fannie and Freddie would then take these mortgages and "securitize" them by bundling them together and selling them to investors such as investment banks and pension funds.

May 2008, Freddie and Fannie had guaranteed $2.2 trillion in mortgages, about 75% of all mortgages in the U.S., and owned a quarter of the all the mortgage back securities issued on the market.

Much of the current crisis could have been prevented if Congressman Barney Frank would have encouraged reform instead of prevented it.

As the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank resisted any regulation of Freddie and Fannie's investment strategies and even sought to increase their portfolios.

The mission of Freddie and Fannie -- to provide low income housing -- became a smoke shield for Frank to reward his buddies.

in 2005, Republican Senators included John McCain, introduced legislation to tighten up regulation of Freddie and Fannie.

Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Chris Dodd and other Democrats resisted, and the legislation lacked the support to get any traction.

After the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, all chances of reform were lost.

Predatory politicians took millions in campaign funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in exchange for political protection against attempts at reform.

Fannie and Freddie worked hard -- and paid millions -- to protect themselves from reform efforts in Congress.

By 2008, Fannie and Freddie employees contributed nearly $15 million to the campaigns of Members of Congress on key committees responsible for their oversight

Now these same predatory politicians are looking into the cameras and saying,

"The private sector got us into this mess.

The government has to get us out of it."

The truth is, predatory politicians got us into this mess.

Now the taxpayers are footing the bill to get us out of it

Fannie and Freddie are the current Enron and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are the Bernie Madoffs.

EVERY single American should know what Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer did to this country.

Maxine Waters also had a hand in some of this as she is also on the banking comittee.

Are they to powerful for anyone to investigate them?

The who thing reeks of corruption and the coverup is astounding.

Americans are on the hook for TRILLIONS just for Fannie, Freddie and HUD.

Someone has to do something!

I say "Don't go to work anymore.". In other words "HALT, who goes there?