And to the original article....what a crock. The so-called "idiots" in this story are the ones like Barney Frank, who in '00 said that there was no federal liability "whatsoever" in Fannie and Freddie. From the WSJ : “Mr. Frank was publicly arguing for an increase in the size of their combined $1.4 trillion portfolios right up to the day they were bailed out. Even now . . . he opposes Treasury’s planned reduction in the size of the portfolios starting in 2010.” Yes, thank Mr. Frank and those like him for the Community Reinvestment Act and the true cause of this mess. And as far as eliminating capital gains, can you think of a better way to free up capital? It did wonders for Singapore.
First of all, the initial cause for all this was Fannie and Freddie writing bad loans at the behest of Congressional leaders. The top five recipients of donations, or would you call them bribes, from Fannie and Freddie were all Democrats: Dodd, Kerry, Obama, H. Clinton, and Kanjorski. Franklin Raines, former Clinton budget director, ran Fannie from '91-'96 and again from '99-'04. I don't think you could call Mr. Raines a Republican. But you COULD call him a crook. Mr. Raines left Fannie Mae in '04 in the midst of an investigation by the SEC and The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight for extreme accounting irregularities. His salary for almost ruining the American economy was an estimated $90 million dollars. How about Jamie Gorelick? As a democrat and Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from '97-'03, she helped Mr. Raines manipulate their accounting practices to the tune of $9 BILLION in unreported losses. In '05 she said: "We believe we are managed safely. We are very pleased that Moody's gave us an A-minus in the area of bank financial strength -- without a reference to the government in any way. Fannie Mae is among the handful of top-quality institutions." What an idiot. With democrats like these "on your side," who needs enemies?
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Latest | Highest ratedRepublican Bailout Counterproposal? Utterly Idiotic [View article]
Republican Bailout Counterproposal? Utterly Idiotic [View article]