The Rebel

Looks Like the Mortgage Prosecutions Are Coming

What a joke! Barney Frank is going for prosecutions re: the mortgage mess. Frank was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae. Frank has derailed efforts to regulate the institution, as well as denying it posed any financial risk.

In 1991, Frank and former Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., lobbied for Fannie to soften rules on multi-family home mortgages although those dwellings showed a default rate twice that of single-family homes, according to the Nov. 22, 1991, Boston Globe.

According to an article by Kathleen Day in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that “could pose risk to the taxpayers.” He told the Post he worried the Treasury Department “would sacrifice activities that are good for consumers in the name of lowering the companies’ market risks.”

Just a month before, Frank had aggressively thwarted reform efforts by the Bush administration. He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were “exaggerated,” a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.

“These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” Frank said to the Times. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

I say the prosecutions should start with Barney Frank. He is the last person who should be calling for prosecutions of the mortgage companies. He was the enabler.

Did President Obama's Speech Cause the Market Decline?

"President Obama was elected because an overwhelming majority of people believe that he can do this."

If we are going to criticize others, then let's take a look at ourselves in the mirror, first. I don't think 52-53% of the vote can be considered an overwhelming majority. As those great pundits on CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, and others kept cramming down our throats in 2004, a swing of 60,000 votes in Ohio would have given the election to Kerry. Well, a swing of about 500,000 votes in several states in 2008 would have given the election to McCain. Far from what I would call an overwhelming majority. You must be drinking the same kool aid that CNBC is.

You would have a point if you had said that an overwhelming majority of blacks believe that he can do this.

Why a Psychological Bottom Will Lag Any Real Recovery

If I had a long position in DXO and had held it most of the way down, I'd have psychological problems, too. Don't know how long you have held your position.