“Everyone agrees that something major must be done. But Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion rescue plan is demanding extraordinary power for himself — and for his successor — to deploy taxpayers’ money on behalf of a plan that, as far as I can see, doesn’t make sense,” wrote columnist Paul Krugman.
He concluded: “Paulson insists that he wants a ‘clean’ plan. ‘Clean,’ in this context, means a taxpayer-financed bailout with no strings attached — no quid pro quo on the part of those being bailed out. Why is that a good thing? Add to this the fact that Paulson is also demanding dictatorial authority, plus immunity from review ‘by any court of law or any administrative agency,’ and this adds up to an unacceptable proposal.”
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93 Comments
“If the American people ever allow private banks
to control the issue of their money,
first by inflation and then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will
grow up around them (around the banks),
will deprive the people of their property
until their children will wake up homeless
on the continent their fathers conquered.”
-Thomas Jefferson
It’s like they were psychic.
Agreed. I’m really afraid of what this country will be like when my grandson gets older
Be afraid of what this country will look like over the next 5 years.
The $700 billion is a misnomer. That is the maximum amount allowed at any given time. That means the gov. gets to dip into the honeypot as many times as it pleases. This will cost closer to 2 trillion and it isn’t to fix anything. The root cause has not even been addressed.
This is a flimsy firewall. This is wasted money. This will only lengthen, not lessen, the pain. Let them fail. Let many large industries fail. It will hurt, bad, but it will be over quicker.
Then rebuild on a solid foundation.
This is just plain wrong. If the money is required for the solvency of the nation, I might reluctantly agree. BUT—THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE, and Oversight is a requirement. Even if I think the overseeers (Congress) are just as crooked as the rest.
Section 8 of Paulson’s proposal is a non-starter.
Protection for homeowners has to be included.
I’ll say this much–I like what McCain has had to say in the last two days a lot more than what Obama has said.
However, I’ve had too many personal experiences with McCain where he was Lucy to my Charlie Brown for me to ever trust him on anything.
Protect the innocent parties/collateral damaged,(i.e. taxpayer,pension participant, the others can go to hell.
Wow and I was worried before I read this. Lets take
a look at AIG. I checked their website and top execs (6 people) had total compensation of over 42 million. Of course, they couldn’t see the problems AIG’s problems in 2007. But now they need 85 billion,,,are you kidding me. Now they want to dictate without oversight and a get out of jail card free card just in case. My youngest is 13 and I am very concerned about what the future holds for them, not to mention my 401k and my retirement. The worst part is I see no solution
from our choices in November. I do find it hard to
believe that anyone would want to keep the same
party in power.
It is not the role of the Federal Government to save individuals, companies or institutions from the consequences of their actions and it is not the responsibility of the American taxpayer to bear the costs of the irrational behavior of individual home owners or their lenders.
soccer,
You are preaching to the choir here,I was taught that all through my growing up years.
There is a solution for those worried about their life savings.
First, get out of the American Dollar. Get your money into a company with a strong currency.
Second, own real assets that have value. Gold, Oil, Silver, etc.
Third, read the book “Crash Proof” by Peter Schiff. It is a great book.
If you don’t want to do the investing yourselves, roll your money over to Euro-Pacific capital. Peter Schiff runs this firm and will get your money into foriegn stocks that pay good dividends. He’ll also put your money into strong commodities. He will get you out of the dollar before its collapse.
This is a viable option for those who don’t have the time, or will to learn how to invest their money.
Remember folks. They are saving these corporations at the expense of our currency. The collapse of the dollar is much worse than you losing your 401K.
Get your 401K or pension out of the dollar and move it to commodities and strong foreign stocks.
Good luck. I’ll see you all in the trenches when the time comes.
If the public is going to buy the financial industry, we should own it outright, and get all the benefits thereof. I’m not suggesting the bailout is a good thing, but if it’s going to happen, that’s how it should happen.
And then we’ll go visit the fairy princess together.
Too bad we got the bullskit threads when I had time to post. . .this is actually important!
What Paulson is suggesting is a quick rescue for the same people who got us in this mess in the first place.
Would that only their future was tied up in it!
If the government really did it’s job in restraining the printing press, many of you and your friends and neighbors would not have the use of the homes and cars that you have right now. Are you going to vote for someone who would have denied you your home that you got with no money down?
The government goosed the economy with liquidity because it is popular to do so for the current generation. The market leaped for joy after the Paulson bailout plan was anounced. Why? It keeps the liquitidy taps running full blast allowing more artificial growth and more ability to stay in debt to get what we want for another few precious moments.
Who has the guts to force this country into the recession or depression it deserves based on the economic fundamentals to save our currency from debasement? Nobody can do so and still obtain the popular vote.
Complaining about a correcting economy and then complaining against the bailout plan is taking two sides of a singular issue. If you really opposed the bailout, they you should be happy about a slowing economy, because that is the result of reducing the flow of liquidity in a market that has been hooked on it for years.
And people wonder why my holdings are in Canada and England, sort of. :D
ANd if the bailout does not happen, what happens to the retirement accounts, 401ks, mutual funds of all the “little people” investors who have holdings in these? Down the tubes. Just so you understand it isn;t just the big boys and “the rich” that are going to get burned. Don;t let your zeal to punish “the rich” blind you to all the rest of the people who will get hurt. Like your grandma.
Warfare of any kind, including class warfare, has unintended consequences and collateral damage. Just admit you don;t care and be done with it.
I will state that I “borrowed” the following from a commentator on CNBC this morning. I apologize for not recalling his name.
First: Use the “bailout” funds for guarantee/purchase of debt from the banks, with the exception of the mortgage debt. Let there be real ramifications to those who made the mess, i.e., let Wall Street deal with the toxic assets that were created.
Second: Capital infusions in return for equity in the banks which need the same (much like the commentator, my father, in this case, just did a double back flip in his grave).
Third, tighten regulation of the financial sector.
Fourth (this one borrowed from the current Chairman of the SEC), establish through legislation regulatory control over the collateral swap obligations which, to my mind, are central to the current crisis.
Fifth, eliminate section 8 of the Treasury proposal.
These ideas make sense to me; provide the needed liquidity to the banks without bailing them out of the mess made, which would benefit Main Street directly. By taking an equity position, the government (allegedly representing the taxpayers) might benefit from profits which could flow. Re-regulation speaks for itself. The regulation of the hitherto unregulated market collateral swap area would (hopefully) put rules in place to minimize the damage which has flowed therefrom; and, eliminating section 8 removes the transfer of power to the Secretary of the Treasury which I consider to be not only unwise, but unconstitutional.
One other point he raised: any profit should go to buttressing Social Security and Medicare, something that is going to be done at some point anyway, so let’s get a bit of a start on it.
The above is another “plan”, but one I feel to be somewhat superior to the one proposed by the Treasury Department.
Well said, counselor.
“Bailout plan doesn’t make sense”
But apply political correctness to it, call it Corporate Welfare and it makes great sense.
Get your 401K or pension out of the dollar . . .
Except that the Euro, the Pound, the Yen, the Yuan, the HongKong dollar, the Taiwan dollar, the Malaysian Ringgit, the Thai Baht, the Korean Won, the Indian Rupee, and the Swiss Franc are all fiat money.
Not a single one is on a gold or silver standard any more.
Wiseman–
Ditto that!
It makes perfect sense for RepubliCONs to do this: help their friends and screw everybody else.
100 percent consistent.
Good plan, Tolle.
Sounds a lot better than just giving money to people who made the mess to begin with . . .
CapnAmerica
Posted September 23, 2008 at 2:21 pm | Permalink
Wiseman–
Ditto that!
It makes perfect sense for RepubliCONs to do this: help their friends and screw everybody else.
100 percent consistent.
littlejohn
Posted September 23, 2008 at 1:53 pm | Permalink
ANd if the bailout does not happen, what happens to the retirement accounts, 401ks, mutual funds of all the “little people” investors who have holdings in these? Down the tubes. Just so you understand it isn;t just the big boys and “the rich” that are going to get burned. Don;t let your zeal to punish “the rich” blind you to all the rest of the people who will get hurt. Like your grandma.
Warfare of any kind, including class warfare, has unintended consequences and collateral damage. Just admit you don;t care and be done with it.
Getting out of the dollar doesn’t mean jumping into another fiat currency, it means buying gold, silver, food, guns and ammo.
And for those that don’t, there will be gnashing of teeth and a slight feeling of being broke and hungry.
CapnAmerica
Posted September 23, 2008 at 2:20 pm | Permalink
Get your 401K or pension out of the dollar . . .
Except that the Euro, the Pound, the Yen, the Yuan, the HongKong dollar, the Taiwan dollar, the Malaysian Ringgit, the Thai Baht, the Korean Won, the Indian Rupee, and the Swiss Franc are all fiat money.
Not a single one is on a gold or silver standard any more.
_______________________________________________
Irrelevant. They are not debasing their currency like the United States is. I am giving you a way to keep what you have. That is all. If the dollar crashes, everyone loses. Don’t you get that? Do you not see that the pressure goes on us and the dollar if they bail out these companies?
You keep fighting the partisan battle. Us that live in the real world will vote for a third party candidate and try to change things.
http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=0a253ad4-7e1a-4d8e-b50a-ecb61ec70855
Something from Roger Lowenstein. A point he makes is that the government will likely overpay for the assets, as the market (in his opinion) has sufficient liquidity to purchase these assets at a ‘true market value’ such that the intervention of the government would be not necessary absent overpaying. That is what I think as well.
On the issue of the collateral swaps, it still seems to me that this is at the bottom of the entire thing. With the creation of the derivatives and the collateral swaps to back the same up, this appears to be a way to minimize the risk involved with the underlying mortgages which were the basis for the securities against which the collateral swaps were created which perversely increased the risk, by exposing additional parties to loss as the chain of holders of the mortgage grows as the underlying security is sold together with the operative collateral swaps. At some point, if the entire thing becomes worth a fraction of the original value, there will be losses accumulating which might well dwarf the initial value of the loan.
IT’S ALL THE DEMOCRATS’ FAULT!
If they cave in to Bush it will be their fault a bad bill was passed giving dictatorial powers to Paulson. If they stand up for the American people they will be blamed for stone-walling and causing delays.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/economy/bailout_hearing/index.htm?postversion=2008092314
BILL CLINTON!
MONICA!
Biden agrees with McCain that AIG should not get a bailout.
Obama? he gives the bailout one thumb up with the other thumb over Biden’s mouth.
“Barack Obama and Joe Biden stepped out of sync again Tuesday, as the Democratic presidential nominee criticized his running mate for voicing opposition to the government bailout of American International Group early last week.”
The latest friction happened when Obama was asked on NBC’s “Today Show” about why he criticized McCain for initially opposing a federal bailout of AIG when Biden was also speaking out against it.
“I think … that in that situation, I think Joe should have waited, as well,” Obama said.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/23/obama-chides-biden-for-off-message-interview/
Uh Oh. So much for Obama making the economy the issue for the Democrats to capitalize on.
Interesting …
“”I think actually the banking sector is holding up pretty well,” Bair said. The recent collapse of major investment banks and the cataclysm on Wall Street has shown that “there is some virtue to regulation. There is some virtue to leverage constraints,” she said.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/economy/homeloan_bailout.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008092312
In other words – the regulated banking industry – required to support things like community reinvestment – is doing better than the UNREGULATED non-banks who are NOT covered by CRA.
Democrats, the party of criticism. They even criticize a stance shared by their very own VP for the sake of cricizing a Republican!
Case in point. Obama is nothing more then an Anti-Republican. This comes to bite him when his own VP takes the same position as the Republican he is is criticizing.
Challenge to Obama: Act like the leader you claim to be. Take a position without first seeing what the Repbulicans are doing and then taking the opposite position.
bth
Posted September 23, 2008 at 3:05 pm | Permalink
Interesting …
“”I think actually the banking sector is holding up pretty well,” Bair said. The recent collapse of major investment banks and the cataclysm on Wall Street has shown that “there is some virtue to regulation. There is some virtue to leverage constraints,” she said.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/economy/homeloan_bailout.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008092312
In other words – the regulated banking industry – required to support things like community reinvestment – is doing better than the UNREGULATED non-banks who are NOT covered by CRA.
________________________________________________
Why would a bank agree to give out a loan if they knew they were not going to get the money back?
You don’t need a regulation for common sense.
If someone is willing to take out the loan, of their free will, both will lose. Both are at fault. Trying to fix ignorance is even more ignorant. People will learn on their own, not by force.
Government uses greed to introduce these retards to the free market.
Austrian economics is the answer.
It is the only economic school that is for the people and the individual.
Keynesian economics got us into this problem, and will certainly not get us out of it.
http://www.mises.org
Grow your mind.
That’s what I think too the CDS (collateral default swaps) pulls in many more derivitive than the initial ones to back the mortgage default, since with deregulation just about any kind of derivitive can be used.
So I think it would cause a cascading effect down the derivitive chain (which I believe is over 40 trillion).
“Why would a bank agree to give out a loan if they knew they were not going to get the money back?”
Simple: If I am a multi-million-dollar CEO I might approve these stupid deals because I get paid by volume and don’t plan to be around when it hits the fan. And, of course, I can then stick it to the taxpayers and blame the Democrats.
Phantom
Posted September 23, 2008 at 3:17 pm | Permalink
That’s what I think too the CDS (collateral default swaps) pulls in many more derivitive than the initial ones to back the mortgage default, since with deregulation just about any kind of derivitive can be used.
So I think it would cause a cascading effect down the derivitive chain (which I believe is over 40 trillion).
_____________________________________________
What is the consequence of all these derivatives?
The companies that packaged these bad loans are going to go out of business. They are going to lose all of their lifes work.
That seems like enough consequence to me. Do you people really think that these companies are stupid enough to do this again?
Well, if the government is going to encourage it with our tax dollars…maybe.
If not, then they will get into the same trouble again. Regulation is not necessary here folks.
Please use common sense. In fact, read the book by Thomas Paine called, “Common Sense”.
bth
Posted September 23, 2008 at 3:23 pm | Permalink
“Why would a bank agree to give out a loan if they knew they were not going to get the money back?”
Simple: If I am a multi-million-dollar CEO I might approve these stupid deals because I get paid by volume and don’t plan to be around when it hits the fan. And, of course, I can then stick it to the taxpayers and blame the Democrats.
________________________________________________
Exactly, if our government allows this to happen, it sounds like you all know where to place the blame.
Let the sh*t hit the fan. It’s their former company at stake. If they are willing to risk their business for more profit, then let them. The failure of that business is punishment enough.
If there isn’t a business around to offer the garbage, then you won’t have it. People who start a new business will learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward.
This is not rocket science folks.
Trade like this Republican Senator!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee struck pay dirt on a stock option last year after betting that a Chinese advertising company would jump in value.
In a single transaction on Dec. 10, Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama made up to $15,000 off an investment he had held for just two weeks,
according to his congressional financial disclosure statement.
He soldon the same day that the company, Focus Media Holding Ltd., got a market bounce off its announcement that it would acquire a competitor.
The trade was among dozens made in 2007 by the powerful congressman,whose public statements alone can influence markets. Most of his
trades were short-term options in which Bachus bet that a stock price would rise or fall and made a quick profit or loss accordingly.
Sometimes, he made several trades in the same week, supplementing his $165,200 annual congressional salary with up to $160,000 for the year.
Most members of Congress hold some stocks or mutual funds. Bachus’rapid-fire trades, however, are unusual for a leading member of Congress, particularly one with such a key market role.
As Congress prepares for a massive Wall Street bailout, legal experts say Bachus’ activities raise questions about where his allegiances lie
and how he spends his time.
“Is he working for the American people or working on his securities accounts?” asked Mercer Bullard, a securities law professor at the
University of Mississippi and a former attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate … you
cannot as a member of the House Financial Services Committee provide a truly unconflicted point of view if you are actively trading in the
markets.”
Bachus declined to answer questions for this story, including whether he has actively traded during the recent market turmoil. His office
issued a statement that said: “All of my financial transactions comply with the law and House ethics rules and are fully disclosed as
required.”
His spokesman also said the eight-term congressman from outside Birmingham doesn’t invest in banking or other financial sector
companies over which his committee has oversight.
The committee has its hand in just about every policy issue involvingthe financial sector, delving recently into credit card regulation,
hedge fund reform and efforts to shore up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
As the top Republican on the committee, Bachus has been heavily involved in government negotiations over the ongoing mortgage crisis
and its fallout on Wall Street.
Last week, for example, Bachus was among the congressional leadersbriefed before the Bush administration announced it would bail out the
massive insurer American International Group Inc., whose failure could have sent markets into free fall.
“The problem is that the temptations are just too great,” said James Cox, a corporate law expert at Duke University who has testified on insider trading before Congress. “We get very upset about baseball players and other sports players who gamble … because we’re worried
about the temptation that they might bet on their own games. I think this is the same problem.”
It’s impossible to pinpoint just how much Bachus earned from his trading because lawmakers are required to report only broad ranges of outside income on their annual financial disclosure statements.
Bachus’ 2007 report shows he sometimes held an investment for just a day or two before selling it. Most of his trades were short-term “puts” or “calls” — transactions similar to short selling that involve speculating that a stock’s value will rise or fall.
While short selling has been temporarily banned, stock options have not.
Although he reported no stock deals last year involving banks or insurers, he traded frequently in index funds, some with financial-sector components.
In March, Bachus made between $15,000 and $50,000 off an option he had held for a month that predicted that an S&P 500 stock index would
drop. In January, he made up to $1,000 off a two-week investment involving Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device that has heavily lobbied Congress on issues
relating to a patent lawsuit.
Other trades involved Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, Sony Corp., Carmax Inc., Apple Inc., Palm Inc., PetroChina Co. and Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Corp.
While some executive agencies restrict their leaders’ investments to prevent conflicts of interest, lawmakers have given themselves broad
freedom to invest in the markets. Some say Congress is involved in so many issues that it would be impossible to establish meaningful rules
without banning investing altogether.
Cox and Bullard said it’s one thing for a member of Congress to own long-term investments and quite another for a lawmaker to actively
trade. They noted that most financial advisers caution against short-term investing and said only people who spend most of their time
watching the markets could do so with success.
“If he were my representative in Congress, I would be irritated that he has the time to do this,” Cox said. “I don’t have that kind of time
in my life and I don’t have those kinds of responsibilities.”
I figure those that sold the packaged loans also sold ‘insurance’ to the buyer, when the loans went bad the seller, not being regulated, was under collaterallized, meaning they’d have to sell off other assets at distressed prices, kind of like a run on the non-bank banks.
If they distressed the prices on another ’security’ it’d probably trigger the ‘insurance’ clause’ on that security …
That’s about the only way I can see this thing affecting the whole financial community.
With the non-banks becoming banks, they can borrow govt. money to make good on their credit defaults and having to take back the insured security. Then, the sell the defaulted mortgage to the bail out plan.
Mrage,
Trading options is easy and takes no time at all. Anyone can do it. Including a member of congress who does his due dilligence and knows how to picks good stocks.
I could spend ten minutes on options trading and be done for the month.
Good article though. You can see the divide it is trying to cause.
Vote third party in 2008!
This isn’t a bailout, it’s Bushco’s last chance givaway. It’s handing over of no only the treasury, but the future incomes of our children and grandchildren to the big business honchos who supported Bushco when the ordinary people wouldn’t support his war. We’re talking to the tune of seven hundred thousand million dollars, or better than two grand for every man woman and child, legal or illegal, in prison or out, rich or impoverished, able bodied or disabled in the whole country! And for what? So a bunch of dishonest corporations, who knowingly made hundreds of thousands of loans with your money that they knew for a fact would never be repaid, and then misjudged the market and to failed to unload them on some sucker before their self-created bubble burst, wouldn’t lose their own profits!
Where is the public’s golden parachute?
I am not thrilled with the remedy.
However, what Krugman and the other Democrats REALLY don’t like about the mortgage situation?
The Democrat PIGGY BANK, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide, Lehman have all been taken away from the Democrat interest groups and the Democrat candidates.
Democrats who fought every effort to force the Democrat controlled mortgage industry to reform, are now “upset” that they can not control the remedy to the problem that DEMOCRATS, in large measure, CAUSED!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
Sing it Marcy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds&feature=related
” He is an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona in the 2008 presidential election. The opinions expressed are his own.”
Keep posting McCain campaign literature blaming the Democrats Paul. You fulfill your Shill role well.
Hmm, the bill co-sponsored by Senator McCain, appears to never have made it out of committee, Franklin. As I recall, the GOP had the majority in the Senate in 2005 and 2006. How, pray tell, were the Democrats able to block it?
Could it be that the White House was against it? I’m believing this was a separate piece of legislation than that passed by the House in 2005 that was discussed yesterday, but similar in tone, I believe. Former representative Oxley stated in the article linked that he had worked with Rep. Frank, and achieved a bipartisan vote on the House Bill, only to have it stall in the Senate, due to (paraphrasing from memory) among other things a single finger salute from the White House which was in favor of total privatization of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Just wondering how the bill introduced by Sen. Hagel and co-sponsored by Sen. McCain was given similar treatment.
Interesting read. An article written in the year 2000 about at least part of the roots of todays crisis. Read it and be informed. Make your own decisions.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html
BTW, Franklin, link to the annie-moose post that set out Mr. Oxley’s comments:
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/09/open-thread-922-2/#comment-429951
“How, pray tell, were the Democrats able to block it?”
Maybe the Democrats black-mailed Bush into giving it the one-finger salute. It is good to see that REPUBLICAN (sic) Barney Frank was also trying to reform the system only to be stymied by DEMOCRAT Bush and the Democratic-dominated Senate Committees.
/sarcasm off
This was in my mailbox today
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
DEAR AMERICAN:
I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.
I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.
I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.
THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.
PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.
YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON
Just look at the net result, social spending will have to be curtailed during obama’s term, the money having been spent on the wealthy by bush.
It’s a con wet dream!
More liberal drivel:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28670
/sarcasm off
Annie,
Good one! Straight from Scam City!
“Oxley” is part of the “Sarbanes Oxley” or SOX legislation.
Those rules were well intended.
However, they have now puahed investment capital off shore.
Investment banking that used to be done here, is now done elsewhere.
This has cost our economy dearly.
Sorry, the last time Oxley got involved in financial matters, he over did it.
And Liberals,
Please tell me why all of the mortgage industry giants, who have gotten into trouble so far, gave so much money to Democrat candidates?
The mortgage industry has been a piggy bank for Democrats, and has provided partronage jobs for Democrats.
AV
There is no way that any funds can be allocated, in any way, to Social Security and Medicare.
It is not possible.
Social Security and Medicare are “pay as you go” systems.
It is just as impossible for YOU to write YOURSELF a loan, and just as impossible for YOU to “pay yourself” as it is for the government to do anythign BUT “pay as you go” on Social Security and Medicare. The government might, through slight of hand, purchase “bonds” in the “Trust Funds” but reasonable people understand that the Social Security Trust Fund and the Medicare Trust Fund do not exist, in real terms.
Those “trust funds” do not increase or decrease the obligation of the government to pay those future burdens. Therefore, for practical purposes, those trust funds do not exist.
It is like taking money out of your left pocket, replacing that money with an IOU, and placing that money in your right pocket.
You still have the same amount of money.
mrage
Franklin Raines made $90,000,000.00 in little more than 6 years at Fannie Mae, before he left in disgrace.
Raines has been a top advisor to Obama.
And Liberals,
Please tell me why all of the mortgage industry giants, who have gotten into trouble so far, gave so much money to Democrat candidates?
The mortgage industry has been a piggy bank for Democrats, and has provided partronage jobs for Democrats.
Then don’t do the bailout.
Just think of it Franklin miles and miles of unemployed dems sleeping under bridges….standing in bread lines. Their MBA’s would be worthless with the destruction of mortgage industry. We would be at your mercy.
Don’t do the bailout defund the dems.
Mudd, after taking over for Raines, calls the Congressional Black Caucus, and Obama, “The Conscience of Fannie Mae”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0
annie
Republicans are not out to hurt innocent people.
This mortgage problem was caused, primarily, by Democrats, but it is hurting everyone.
Franklin, what you say about Social Security and Medicare is true under current law. As you are well aware, laws can be amended to allow for that proposal made by the gentleman on CNBC, which, as we both know, was just his ideas.
On Raines, other than naked allegations made by the McCain campaign, any independent evidence that he (Raines) “has been a top advisor to Obama”?
You are aware that Sen. McCain has received contributions of $169,000 from Freddie Mac and Fannie May employees, officers, directors and lobbyists, as compared to a total of $160,000 received from all the same sources by Sen. Obama, right? I presume you checked out the link to the source for this I posted on the Open either last Thursday or Friday (memory isn’t what it used to be, unfortunately). Interested on your take about that, too, but I’ve got to leave, and get home. Big day tomorrow, need to pay a few more bills. :-)
but it is hurting everyone.
How? Doesn’t hurt me when a wall street exec misses his 60 million dollar bonus.
They are all crooks, from the Obama advisor’s to Bushs’ and Cheney’s buddies all building army’s and supporting said army’s with a $100-a-bag laundry service and long chow lines in the blistering Iraqi Sun.
They are all covering each other’s crimes…but they’re sloppy and we need a heavy dose of a Nuremberg-style court, right now.
We need to show the World that these bastards won’t do all of this in OUR name. And they damned sure shouldn’t get away with anything let alone get paid for it too.
Take our own Pat Roberts, Brownback, Tiahrt and fully investigate those people. Every state needs to make their leaders know, that they are now being held accountable and every cent they get in office will be chased to the source. They are PUBLIC figures and should be treated as such.
But these are of course, pipe dreams.
The House of Cards tumbles…
Republicans are not out to hurt innocent people.
If the dems are such monsters and did horrible things in the mortgage business they should be punished.
An eye for an eye
Don’t do the bailout
Don’t reward the wicked
“Franklin” lies –
“Raines has been a top advisor to Obama.”
Raines and Obama have met once, for two or three minutes.
C’mon, “Franklin.” You’re not even trying anymore.
The Federal Government has already taken control of millions of Americans homes via control of their home loans.
Now if they get our place of business and all our banks –
this will no longer be the United States of America as we know it.
Austrian_Economist posts:
“Get your 401K or pension out of the dollar and move it to commodities and strong foreign stocks.”
I agree with you….not arguing, BUT, today’s companies, U.S. and ‘foreign, are really international in scope.
Granted foreign ones may base values on the euro but still if the U.S. hurts so goes the rest of the world, and vice-versa.
My ‘foreign’ funds, granted they are in Vanguard, Am. Century, Mutual Series Funds, etc, but invested in foreign companies, have suffered as much or more than those with companies totally withing the U.S.
I’ve done well with gold and silver, but it’s been a hell of an up and down ride. And fixed income pays so little as to not keep up with inflation.
What say you, what to do???
The U.S. Department of Justice should investigate all of the failed Wall Street firms that are having to be rescued from mismanagement. The investigation should look for such actions as deliberate misuse of funds, making actions based on personal gain rather than company (investor) gain, negligence such as not considering the risk of investments, etc.
In particular, the Justice Department should investigate whether Lehman Brothers involvement in the carbon credit scheme of Al Gore et. al. played a role in its fall. Veteran Meteorologist John Coleman has called global warming the greatest fraud in history. Carbon credits are one of the ways the perpetrators of that fraud plan to make money of the fictional crisis.
Perhaps the people running these firms were just stupid, but only a complete investigation of their actions can determine why they acted in such an irresponsible manner. Previous investigations of former executives of companies like Enron and Westar have resulted in prosecution of executives who put personal gain ahead of the financial interest of company stock holders and other investors.
The government should examine all means of recovering money from the executives that mismanaged these companies including civil law suits. To the extent possible Congress should enact legislation allowing civil suits against corporate executives who mismanage companies whose failures can adversely affect the economy. Congress should prohibit providing large severance packages to corporate executives who lead a successful company into bankruptcy or to a situation in which government must rescue the company.
The federal government probably cannot recover all the money lost because of mismanagement, but it should try to recover as much as possible.
” We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.”
– From the 2008 Republic Party Platform, adopted last month in St. Paul
Leave it to the administration and administration officials to give a big fat zero consideration to main street Americans. Oh, except for the fact, of course, that these same wizards of financial wreckage fully expect for main street Americans to ante up every last dime they owe. Here, then, is a news bulletin for these honyocks: it takes two parties to enter into a loan agreement. In this case, the investment banks have all their high tech gizmos and high paid hands to jigger the risks, whereas the borrowers tend to not be as well-versed on the ins and outs. Rest assured, though, that when it comes time for a bailout, the banks, who used all their profound expertise in money to get it just as wrong as everyone else, will nevertheless be the first ones taken care of, baby. The rest of the participants can’t even bargain. They don’t have a seat at the table. They are out in the cold breeze being told about a bailout. Someone else’s bailout. Nice. Thanks for the memories, George. One question, however, for the masterminds on this little shindig: how much debt is still out there, sitting in the public’s mailboxes, awaiting another monthly installment? Because if jobs keep going and main street Americans don’t receive a jump start as well, then more bad numbers are sure to turn up in the databases of the banks that were just put on life support.
Buffet buying 5 bil. in Paulson’s old co. Goldman sachs.
Fbi investigating for fraud, notice Goldman Sachs (Paulson’s old stomping grounds) is conspiculously missing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080924/bs_nm/us_financial_bailout_fbi5
We need trials, convictions and plenty of gallows. This is TREASON in its purest and most sinister form (yeah, laugh all you want). And we set a precedent from here on out if nothing is done and we allow this so-called “bail-out” (try bank robbery). Then I will surely be right in saying we American’s deserve everything thing that will befall us. You will watch America die.
Remember that if we don’t put these devils on trial, we’ll have blood all over this land after the full collapse of our economy. Friggin’ scary, but inevitable. Do any of you think you’re ready for something like that? Really?
It’s kind of a good thing that there are FEMA camps set up all over this country and thank goodness that The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team will be here on the 1st of October (just to maybe get us used to having Army patrol our streets?)…Wha? Don’t believe the tin-foiler? Have a look-see. And it’s quite telling that it’s a COMBAT team that’ll be “helping out” the police. We’ll have plenty of ammo to get that cat outta the tree.
Oh yeah, this too, just in case you thought of being mad about this too much.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”
-John Fitzgerald Kennedy
I’d say, that those who still believe 20 Arabs based in a cave in Afghanistan could circumvent the “Strongest Military in the World’s” own top building and crash a “plane” into it. You deserve to have every game in the book ran on you, up to and including being robbed right before your eyes. If you still believe that those buildings were melted (straight-the hell-down) by kerosene…you deserve to own that beach-front igloo.
Good luck.
’cause obviously, no one can tell you not to buy it.
They don’t call Buffet the Oracle of Omaha for nothing, he has the savvy to know that Paulson’s going to treat the old company right (who’d know better where his skeletons are hidden), and Buffet’s going to cash in on it.
#
Franklin
Posted September 23, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
Mudd, after taking over for Raines, calls the Congressional Black Caucus, and Obama, “The Conscience of Fannie Mae”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0
#
Franklin
Posted September 23, 2008 at 5:29 pm | Permalink
annie
Republicans are not out to hurt innocent people.
This mortgage problem was caused, primarily, by Democrats, but it is hurting everyone.
=====================================================
Just how much of your own crap do you really believe? Do you really want to get into a flamewar over this, because you are as wrong as wrong can be. I seriously have my doubts as to your state of mind, which strikes me as being on the mentally challenged side.
Who controlled congress during the Carter years, the Clinton years, and the first six years of this administration? It wasn’t the Democrats.
Who has spent 26 years in congress preaching deregulation of the financial industry? It wasn’t Obama.
Remember the keating five?
Founding Member of the Keating Five–John McCain
Back in the old days, defendants in famous trials got numbers — the Chicago Eight, the Gang of Four, the Dave Clark Five, the Daytona 500. McCain was one of the “Keating Five,” congressmen investigated on ethics charges for strenuously helping convicted racketeer Charles Keating after he gave them large campaign contributions and vacation trips.
Charles Keating was convicted of racketeering and fraud in both state and federal court after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.4 billion. His convictions were overturned on technicalities; for example, the federal conviction was overturned because jurors had heard about his state conviction, and his state charges because Judge Lance Ito (yes, that judge) screwed up jury instructions. Neither court cleared him, and he faces new trials in both courts.)
Though he was not convicted of anything, McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after Keating gave McCain at least $112,00 in contributions. In the mid-1980s, McCain made at least 9 trips on Keating’s airplanes, and 3 of those were to Keating’s luxurious retreat in the Bahamas. McCain’s wife and father-in-law also were the largest investors (at $350,000) in a Keating shopping center; the Phoenix New Times called it a “sweetheart deal.
Or how about McCains own staff and Freddie?
A day after aides to Republican presidential candidate John McCain lashed out at the press for reporting on connections between prominent campaign advisers and embattled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Bloomberg News provides a new wrinkle to the story.
The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing Freddie Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation’s financial crisis.
Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000 through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
So don’t give me that Obama’s responsible crap. Both Republicans (Phil Gramm, anyone? Isn’t he on McCain’s team?), and the Democrats can share equal blame on this one.
Oh, ya, McCain said he wants to deregulate the health care industry, just as the financial industry was deregulated. Wow; Impressed me . . . not!
You got it wrong and you got nothing. One guy calls Obama “The Conscience of Fannie Mae”, and you’re ready to explode on Obama? What an idiot!
I’m going to bed and sleep well knowing there are still idiots out there yelling, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
Mccain the reinsurance tax loop hole defender:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_el_pr/biden_5
Help the homeowners.
Screw the CEOs and the shareholders.
Blue Jay,
heard a guy on the radio tonight asking if it would be legal to freeze the assests including property of all these CEOs as some sort of collateral. If it is legal they should do it and just leave them just as much as some of their clients live on
FBI Investigating Potential Fraud by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, AIG
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned.
Two law enforcement officials said Tuesday the FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer American International Group Inc. Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also is under investigation.
The inquiries will focus on the financial institutions and the individuals that ran them, the senior law enforcement official said.
The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing and are in the very early stages.
Officials said the new inquiries bring to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation over the past year.
Spokesmen for AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday evening. A Lehman spokesman did not have an immediate comment.
Just last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller put the number of large financial firms under investigation at 24. He did not name any of the companies under investigation but said the FBI also was looking at whether any of them have misrepresented their assets.
Over the past year as the housing market cratered, the FBI has opened a wide-ranging probe of companies across the financial services industry, from mortgage lenders to investment banks that bundle home loans into securities sold to investors. Mueller has previously said the FBI’s hunt for culprits in the nation’s subprime mortgage crisis focused on accounting fraud, insider trading, and failure to disclose the value of mortgage-related securities and other investments.
The investigations revealed Tuesday come as lawmakers began considering whether to approve emergency legislation that would give the government broad power to buy up devalued assets from troubled financial firms.
The bailout proposed by the Bush administration is aimed at helping unlock credit and stabilize badly shaken markets in the United States and around the globe.
In the past two weeks, the government has taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country’s two biggest mortgage companies, with a bailout plan that could require the Treasury Department to put up as much as $100 billion for each of them over time if needed to keep them afloat as mortgage losses mount.
Last week, the Federal Reserve provided an emergency $85 billion loan to AIG, which teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Lehman Brothers was forced to file for bankruptcy after attempts to engineer a private rescue fell apart. All the companies were laid low from bad bets on complex mortgage-related securities.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the joint decision last week that the only way to stop the carnage was to deal with the root cause of all the troubles, billions of dollars of bad mortgage debt sitting on the books of major financial companies. This debt has triggered the worst credit crisis in decades, causing credit markets to essentially freeze up despite the fact that the Fed joined with major central banks around the world to pump billions of dollars of reserves into the financial system.
Additionally, the FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible fraud. Countrywide Financial Corp., formerly the nation’s largest mortgage lender and now owned by Bank of America Corp., is also under scrutiny.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426783,00.html
But why isn’t Goldman Sachs on the list?
Not only do I NOT favor bailing out the big guys, I’m not sure I favor helping the homeowners either. Hell, most of us would have liked to have owned a mcmansion, but we were smart enough to realize we couldnt pay for it even if we got the loan to buy it.
Make EVERYONE pay for being stupid.
And for those of you lamenting the loss in value of your 401k’s etc….
I’m sorry, but when the market was booming, you were more than happy to accept the growth in your retirement money. You were part of the problem. Having your retirement in a 401k does NOT absolve you of responsibility for managing your own money. And… some of you were also more than happy to imply that those of us with no money in the markets were… stupid.
Stupid is as stupid does. If you got the gain, you should be able to handle the pain. That goes for the big guys, the little guys, and everyone in between.
If the american people remain insulated and protected by their nanny state government, and if they do not face the consequenses of who they voted into office, they will never learn.
I say make it hurt, so business AND the voters NEVER forget what they get when they drink the kookaide.
And if they want four more years of this crap by voting for mcsame to carry on the republican deregulation mantra? They get what they deserve.
Make it hurt.
av
How long has McCain been in the Senate?
How long has Obama been in the Senate?
The political contributions, from Fannie, Freddie, Countrywide, Lehman etc. favor Obama, in every case — Obama who has only been a Senator for 3 years!
Look at it this way: Will Congress EVER have any hearings, to look into the mortgage industry and all of these problems?
I sincerely doubt it! Too many Democrats will be in trouble, if that happens!
—-
On the Social Security and Medicare “trust fund” issues:
No law, out of Congress, can change economic and accounting facts.
Government trust funds do not increase or decrease the liabilty of the United States.
Government trust funds do not increase or decrease the net worth of the United States.
September 23, 2008
Raines, Obama and the Media
By Jack Kelly
The Washington Post is a “pretty flimsy” source of information, two Post hotshots declared in an effort to diminish a politically uncomfortable association for Sen. Barack Obama.
Franklin Raines, CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from 1999-2004, is the individual most responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis. It was on Mr. Raines’ watch that Fannie Mae went bankrupt.
He was accused of manipulating earnings statements so he could be paid bonuses to which he was not entitled.
In July, Mr. Raines was interviewed by Anita Huslin, a business reporter for the Washington Post.
“In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae’s chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself,” Ms. Huslin’s story began. “He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case’s D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health care companies and, more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing matters.”
Sen. John McCain pounced. In an ad Sep. 18, he said: “Obama has no background in economics. Who advises him? The Post says it’s Franklin Raines, for ‘advice on mortgage and housing policy.’ Shocking. Under Raines, Fannie Mae committed ‘extensive financial fraud.’ Raines made millions. Fannie Mae collapsed. Taxpayers? Stuck with the bill.”
The Obama campaign rushed out statements by Mr. Raines denying he had offered Sen. Obama advice, and by Sen. Obama denying he had sought it.
Who was the source for Ms. Huslin’s assertion that the Obama campaign had solicited Mr. Raines’ advice? Mr. Raines himself.
“I asked Huslin to provide the exact circumstances of that passage,” wrote Michael Dobbs, who writes the Post’s Fact Checker blog. “She said she was chatting with Raines during the photo shoot, and asked ‘if he was engaged at all with the Democrats’ quest for the White House. He said that he had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign. I asked him about what, and he said, Oh, general housing, economy issues.’”
But that conversation is “pretty flimsy” evidence, Mr. Dobbs said. “The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama,” he said.
Howard Kurtz, the Post’s media writer, said: “(Raines) has never been a close adviser to Obama.”
The McCain campaign never said he was. The only description in the ad of the Obama-Raines relationship is a direct quote from Ms. Huslin’s story. To diminish the impact on Sen. Obama of the disclosure of an unsavory association, Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Kurtz distorted what Sen. McCain actually said.
The furious efforts of Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Kurtz to spin on behalf of Sen. Obama at the expense of their own newspaper are hilarious. But they were topped by Karen Tumulty of Time magazine, who said the McCain ad was “racist” because both Sen. Obama and Mr. Raines are black.
“Sinister images of two black men, followed by one vulnerable looking elderly white woman,” she wrote.
Proof the ad is racist, Ms. Tumulty said, is because it doesn’t mention “a far more significant tie — that of Jim Johnson, the former Fannie Mae chairman who had to resign as head of Obama’s vice presidential search team.”
That’s because the McCain campaign devoted a separate ad to Mr. Johnson, Mr. Raines’ predecessor at Fannie Mae.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Raines aren’t the only figures in the subprime mortgage scandal to be connected to the Obama campaign. Jamie Gorelick, rumored to be an attorney general candidate in an Obama administration, was vice chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003. Penny Pritzker, Mr. Obama’s national finance chairman, has been described as “the Michael Milken of the subprime mortage crisis” for her pioneering of the packaging of bad loans with good ones at her now defunct Superior bank in suburban Chicago.
“The financial engineering that created the financial meltdown was developed by the Pritzkers and Ernst and Young, working with Merrill Lynch to sell bonds securitized by sub-prime mortgages,” said Timothy Anderson, a retired bank consultant.
These connections — and Mr. Raines’ own words — contradict the notion he was the peripheral figure to the Obama campaign Mr. Dobbs, Mr. Kurtz and Ms. Tumulty would like you to believe.
“I no longer trust the major newspapers or television networks to provide consistently accurate and fair reporting of all the charges and counter-charges,” wrote Stuart Taylor in the National Journal Sep. 20.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/how_close_are_raines_and_obama.html
Monkey
There is a problem with the “private companies” issue.
Fannie and Freddie were NOT completely “private” — as government sponsored organizations, they borrowed money on the cheap, from the government, and they were exempt for many regulations.
Also, FDIC, SIPC and other GOVERNMENT insurance programs will come into play, in the financial sector, if we have a collapse.
pleefer
You are an idiot.
A conspiracy kook nut case who should be ignored.
Again, I believe that “mark to market” under Sabaines Oxley, is to blame for much of this problem.
I think it is nuts to take short term fluctuations so seriously.
I think it is nuts to call a company “insolvent” simply because of panic selling, in the marketplace.
Many of these firms have gotten in trouble due to Sarbaines Oxley, which was an over-reaction to Enron (another LIBERAL corporation that failed).
JM
You are a moron.
You do not have a clue what the role of government is or should be.
You do not know how the real world works.
Who cares about what party “controlled” Congress or the White House?
The fact is, FIRST, the economy should NOT, and in most cases, IS NOT run by politicians.
The mortgage industry has always been an exception to this rule.
The “redlining” issue was pushed by Democrats.
The Community Redevelopment Acts, which lowered financial requirements for mortgage borrowers, were pushed hard, by Democrats.
The Repeal of Glass-Steagal was voted for by Biden and signed by Bill Clinton. (Actually, this alone would not have mattered so much, if Fannie and Freddie were not exempt from so many other regulations).
President George W. Bush, Senator McCain, and several Republicans have warned, repeatedly, that Fannie and Freddie were growing problems.
Democrats like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd told us that everything was fine, at Fannie and Freddie.
Democrats took HUGE contributions from the mortgage industry, compared to Republicans.
It is obvious what happened.
It is obvious, JM, that you are too partisan to face the truth.
Republicans lacked the power to stop Democrats from doing stupid things — therefore you blame the Republicans for not having more power?
JM
Furthermore
The “Keating 5″ consisted of 4 DEMOCRATS, and one Republican.
John McCain was NEVER found to be guilty of any wrongdoing, in that ordeal.
The huge difficulty is that this is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. I’m skeptical that even a bailout that isn’t written by Wall Street (and conveniently unreviewable) is going to work.
I’m less concerned about the 401k than plunging into another worldwide depression. We need to do something to keep that from happening but, at this point, I’m not entirely sure what. The devil is in the details, of which there should be many–I doubt any overarching ideological solution is going to cut it.
An $800-billion payment for nothing when our government can’t even pay for its current expenses is a non-starter.
I see Paul’s still desperately spinning away.
What a maroon!
“Posted at 1:57 AM on 9/24/2008 by Michael Goldfarb
A Partisan Paper of Record
Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.
In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual — since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.
Further, and missing from the Times’ reporting, Mr. Davis has never — never — been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.
Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with…Paul Begala.
Again, let us be clear: The New York Times — in the absence of any supporting evidence — has insinuated some kind of impropriety on the part of Senator McCain and Rick Davis. But entirely missing from the story is any significant mention of Senator McCain’s long advocacy for, and co-sponsorship of legislation to enact, stricter oversight and regulation of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — dating back to 2006. Please see the attached floor statement on this issue by Senator McCain from 2006.
To the central point our campaign has made in the last 48 hours: The New York Times has never published a single investigative piece, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod, his consulting and lobbying clients, and Senator Obama. Likewise, the New York Times never published an investigative report, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Senator Obama, who appointed Johnson head of his VP search committee, until the writing was on the wall and Johnson was under fire following reports from actual news organizations that he had received preferential loans from predatory mortgage lender Countrywide.
Therefore this “report” from the New York Times must be evaluated in the context of its intent and purpose. It is a partisan attack falsely labeled as objective news. And its most serious allegations are based entirely on the claims of anonymous sources, a familiar yet regretful tactic for the paper.
We all understand that partisan attacks are part of the political process in this country. The debate that stems from these grand and sometimes unruly conversations is what makes this country so exceptional. Indeed, our nation has a long and proud tradition of news organizations that are ideological and partisan in nature, the Huffington Post and the New York Times being two such publications. We celebrate their contribution to the political fabric of America. But while the Huffington Post is utterly transparent, the New York Times obscures its true intentions — to undermine the candidacy of John McCain and boost the candidacy of Barack Obama — under the cloak of objective journalism.
The New York Times is trying to fill an ideological niche. It is a business decision, and one made under economic duress, as the New York Times is a failing business. But the paper’s reporting on Senator McCain, his campaign, and his staff should be clearly understood by the American people for what it is: a partisan assault aimed at promoting that paper’s preferred candidate, Barack Obama.
Statement by Senator John McCain, May 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.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.”
http://www.johnmccain.com/mccainreport/Read.aspx?guid=74063c9d-7cb5-47c9-acf6-53c0c2d88376
heheheh Rage. And I see paulie is still pushing that Community Reinvestment Act meme.
Heh. Heheheh. HA! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!
maroon indeed
What kind of salesman pushes a product that no one is buying?
An unsuccessful one, no doubt.
Report back to your masters, Paul. Report that no one is buying your lies. Time for some new ones.
How about this it is said that if the government would split up the 700 billion to all americans over the age of 18. That it would come down to around 500k. Now with that being said wouldn’t it be better to do it that way snd let the people pay off most if not all of there peoples debt. Of course there would have to be stipulations like companys would not be aloud to raise prices of goods like in the gold rush days and also as far as paying it back maybe add another % or 2 for taxes each year. I way should the government give the bailout just so it happens again this way the economy might be able to stay in take plus do away with peeps debt which is the a major problem.
oops spelling mistake is in last comment to much to say