How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis

[Raider]

How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis: Kevin Hassett
Commentary by Kevin Hassett - September 22, 2008 00:04 EDT

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) --

The financial crisis of the past year has provided a number of surprising twists and turns, and from Bear Stearns Cos. to American International Group Inc., ambiguity has been a big part of the story.

Why did Bear Stearns fail, and how does that relate to AIG? It all seems so complex.

But really, it isn't. Enough cards on this table have been turned over that the story is now clear. The economic history books will describe this episode in simple and understandable terms: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac exploded, and many bystanders were injured in the blast, some fatally.

Fannie and Freddie did this by becoming a key enabler of the mortgage crisis. They fueled Wall Street's efforts to securitize subprime loans by becoming the primary customer of all AAA-rated subprime-mortgage pools. In addition, they held an enormous portfolio of mortgages themselves.

In the times that Fannie and Freddie couldn't make the market, they became the market. Over the years, it added up to an enormous obligation. As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed more than $388 billion in high-risk mortgage investments. Their large presence created an environment within which even mortgage-backed securities assembled by others could find a ready home.

The problem was that the trillions of dollars in play were only low-risk investments if real estate prices continued to rise. Once they began to fall, the entire house of cards came down with them. MORE>>>

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Below is a C-SPAN hearing of the culprits responsible.... The hearing is quite lengthy, in short; It deals with a damaging report of gross accounting misconduct from Fannie Mae, From 2003 George Bush sent the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) to Capital Hill over a dozen times pushing for Regulatory reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... The Bush administration saw the dangers, the OFHEO saw the dangers as your will see here, the Democrats on the hand did NOT..... They were no only clueless, they were in complete denial of what was going on.

What your going to see is Democrats completely opposed to reforming Fannie and Freddie, they give Armano Falcone of OFHEO a grilling for the findings he brought to the committee... Your also going to see the most greedy and corrupt bastard of them all; Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, who was earning at the time (get this) 19 MILLION Dollars a year, you'll hear him crying when Maxine Waters coddles him, and hear him use his own Daughter to seek sympathy from the panel.... It's pathetic.

It wont take long to notice that most Republicans were on the side of oversight and regulating Fannie Mae, The Dems were NOT. I think some of the best questioning came from Christopher Shays and Rep. Spencer Bachus's opening statement.

You want to see the real bastards responsible for getting into this mess? then I recommend you watch this, Again, it's very long.. But you can always pause it and watch it in steps.


Enjoy;

Congressional Hearing on Fannie Mae on October 6th 2004

[Raider]

And here's another, this one is even better than the first;






Maxine Waters: Through nearly a dozen hearings, we were frankly trying to fix something that wasn’t broke. Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Franklin Raines.

Gregory Meeks: … I’m just pissed off at OFHEO [the regulators trying to warn Congress of insolvency at the GSEs], because if it wasn’t for you, I don’t think we’d be here in the first place. … There’s been nothing that indicated that’s wrong with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac has come up on its own … The question that then comes up is the competence that your agency has with reference to deciding and regulating these GSEs.

Lacy Clay: This hearing is about the political lynching of Franklin Raines.

Barney Frank: I don’t see anything in this report that raises safety and soundness problems.


Barney Frank: DO YOU FEEL THAT OVER THE PAST YEARS YOU HAVE BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY UNDER REGULATED?
Mr. Raines of Fanny Mae: NO, SIR.
Mr. Guled CEO of Freddy Mac: NO, SIR.
Barney Frank:: "OK I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHY WE'RE HERE. WE MIGHT AS WELL GO FORWARD. I'M GOING TO SAY, I'M IN KIND TO AGREE WITH THAT. I DON'T SEE ANY FINANCIAL CRISIS"

-------------

And to think these incompetent political whores responsible for all this are still in office doing what they've always been doing.... ****ing up our Country.

And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get excluded from the Finance Bill passed last year, the very Bill that Obama hails as a victory for consumers.... It's incredible we have this BOOB running our Country.

[HasRob]

your still here looser? glad i hid you so i have no idea what you wrote lol ah ha neener neener.

[Gerry]

All you truly need to know is, First and Foremost, who started the thread and secondly, what conflict of interest there may be with the person said venomous snake is using this time.

He was John McCain's chief economic adviser in the 2000 presidential primaries and an economic adviser to the campaigns of George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election and McCain in the presidential election of 2008.

So is it any wonder that an advisor to John McCain in the 2008 election would blame the democrats for the financial crisis in a September 2008 piece, about 5 weeks before the presidential election?

[Tia Wood]

*buuuurrrrp*


Excuse me.

[bwhhisc]

Democrats OR Republicans, either way you get shady dealing weasels and double talking hypocrites.

[think]

Democrats OR Republicans, either way you get shady dealing weasels and double talking hypocrites.

There's a lot of truth in that. Corruption is not party specific...

[ilovedomains]

Republicans Created the Financial Crisis:
I have researched this and found links on the internet that sort of prove its true...

An expose' by renowned American filmmaker Michael Moore prove beyond a doubt that republicans created the financial crisis and George Bush is an asshole...
Capitalism: A love story
http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-fi...ism-love-story

Michael Moore won an academy award for the accuracy and truthfulness of his films

[500,000]

...

[think]

Its too bad you posters still support the Rats and Obama.

Jesus died for your sins, remember that. Obama and the democrats will lead you to hell.

Two years of of Rev. Wright, in the oval office, the words "God dam America" Go with the beast, demon lovers. Vote Obama

Amen brother Greg. Jesus did die for our sins. But the rest or your post is bat shit crazy. Your opinion and then mine brother. Peace be with you.....

[500,000]

...

[think]

Raw angry responses aren't smart. Name Honey didn't do much other than try to be funny and you got cranky about it. I'm the asshole who insulted you. don't take it out on others as you are only being rude to people that weren't actually rude to you.

Me. ya I was rude to you. And your posts are pretty rude too. Care to relax and get back to a calm rational discussion? If not at least throw some facts in your blasphemous tirades. ( I only used blasphemous to piss you off. Don't let it work.)

[Tia Wood]

Name Honey didn't do much other than try to be funny and you got cranky about it.

It's okay. It probably wasn't that funny. I was just letting some gas out on yet-another-useless-political-thread.

[silentg]

Resolutions are already broken

[Gerry]

Amen brother Greg. Jesus did die for our sins. But the rest or your post is bat shit crazy. Your opinion and then mine brother. Peace be with you.....

And I guess he assumes that the republicans will lead you to heaven???

Y'all need to read the Hijacking of Jesus. The subtitle is How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate.

[think]

Before we get too far off topic. Raider. Thank you for your post. I've been relaxing tonight but I will respond. I agree there were problems at Fanny and Freddy and i'm sure there are Dem's that sucked. But I disagree that Fanny & Freddy were the main cause of the financial crisis.

Sorry I got off topic

---------- Post added at 11:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ----------

And I guess he assumes that the republicans will lead you to heaven???

Y'all need to read the Hijacking of Jesus. The subtitle is How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate.

Had it not been for experiences I can't explain and did not ask for I would not be a believer in Christ. It messed me up enough where I read the words of Christ many times. Kind of liked what He had to say. Wish I was half as nice as He is........

---------- Post added at 11:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 PM ----------

It's okay. It probably wasn't that funny. I was just letting some gas out on yet-another-useless-political-thread.

I encouraged this thread based on discussion in another thread so I'm to blame this additional one

Hope you had a happy New years!

[HasRob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YUnT_xeAM

[think]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YUnT_xeAM

Ya religion sucks. Jesus, whether you believe in Him as the son of God or not said many things condemning religion. That's what got his ass in so much trouble with the Pharisees and Sadducees, two sects of the Jewish faith. Basically he told the people that these religious pricks were full of shit and to worship God only and not be deceived by these snakes.

Jesus was a true rebel against those that used God to serve their own ends. That's why He's my favorite hero.

Check out some of these kick as lines by Jesus. (some extra text is included to give the statements context and back ground):

1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...+3&version=NIV

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]

8 "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...+7&version=NIV

Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us

38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

The Greatest Commandment

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...12&version=NIV

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...12&version=NIV

The Widow’s Offering

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...12&version=NIV

Love for Enemies

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...+6&version=NIV

Judging Others

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...+6&version=NIV

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...+7&version=NIV

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...10&version=NIV

Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law

37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...11&version=NIV

Hope you had a great holiday season however you chose to believe

[Raider]

Before we get too far off topic. Raider. Thank you for your post. I've been relaxing tonight but I will respond. I agree there were problems at Fanny and Freddy and i'm sure there are Dem's that sucked. But I disagree that Fanny & Freddy were the main cause of the financial crisis.

I wouldn't say they were the "main' cause either, I will however say they played a key and pivotal role in the financial meltdown and I think we all know that.

I trust you viewed some or part of the C-SPAN hearings, I want to thank you for pushing me to research these out, I found them quite interesting, I knew Democrats fought against reforming Fannie and Freddie but I didn't know to what extreme and how partisan it was, that's what blew me away the most.. What I saw in both videos was OFAEO, sent by the Bush Administration doing their best to convince Democrats their was a problem and the Democrats in turn putting their fingers in their ears...

To Democrats, "We don't need regulating" "Their NO Problem here" "This is just a witch hunt by the Bush Administration" This was the attitude from our elected leaders, But the most pathetic part of all was how Democrats went out of their way to protect their guy, "Franklin Raines" and others while they were raping over $100 Millon dollars from Government institutions...

"Franklin Raines" himself was allowed to pocket over $50 Million in pay and bonuses after it was all over...... He was sued by OFHEO and had to pay a portion of it back.... But that doesn't help for the damage that's been done to our economy by these greedy bastards.

There's a lot of truth in that. Corruption is not party specific..

As a whole YES, but in the case of Fannie and Freddy turning a blind eye to all the corruption and cooking of the books?.... I'd say Democrats OWN it.

Its too bad you posters still support the Rats and Obama.

They will support the rats until the day they die, because STUPID is forever.

People like DocCom, HasRob, Ilovedomains and NameHoney are nothing but a group of fools who hold a blind allegiance to their party. Their just plain idiots and they've displayed that here for all to see.... You think they would ever give Bush (or the party they despise) credit for trying to Regulate Fannie and Freddie? No, they would much rather support the CROOKS... Guys like Franklin Raines, one of Obama's pals.


Scandal to Cost Ex-Fannie Mae Officers Millions
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 19, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Franklin D. Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae, and two other top executives are paying a total of nearly $31.4 million over their roles in a 2004 accounting scandal in a settlement that the government announced Friday.

Mr. Raines; the former chief financial officer, J. Timothy Howard; and the former controller, Leanne G. Spencer, were accused in a civil lawsuit in December 2006 of manipulating earnings over a six-year period at the company, the largest American financier and guarantor of home mortgages.

Mr. Raines, a prominent Washington figure who was President Bill Clinton’s budget director, has agreed to pay $24.7 million, including a $2 million fine. Mr. Howard is paying $6.4 million and Ms. Spencer $275,000.

Mr. Raines will also give up company stock options valued at $15.6 million.

The deal was announced by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the agency known as Ofheo that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big government-sponsored mortgage finance companies.

Fannie and Freddie both had multibillion-dollar accounting scandals that stunned Wall Street and brought record civil fines against them in settlements with the government.

Ofheo had sought fines of around $100 million against the three and restitution totaling more than $115 million in bonus money tied to an improper accounting scheme.

The regulators said an accounting fraud at Fannie Mae included manipulations to reach earnings targets so that Mr. Raines, Mr. Howard, Ms. Spencer and other company executives could pocket hundreds of millions in bonuses from 1998 to 2004.

Fannie Mae paid a record $400 million civil fine in a settlement with Ofheo and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also agreed to make top-to-bottom changes in its corporate culture, accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.

SOURCE

[HasRob]

Think, I got news for you (:

It's all in your head. Religion like everything else in this material world is bullshit. It's an illusion, it's not real. We are all one mind creating our own lives and each other. We are the big bang, we are "God" everything is "God" and "God" did not create the universe, he, she, it, whatever, became the universe.

I've studied religion for over 25 years, mainly christianity. While there is some impressive quotes and writings in the bible the majority of "christians" misinterpret them because the church teaches it that way to keep the business alive and the masses brainwashed. They actually believe some dude named Jesus is coming back to take them away. I wish he would lol Anyway, heres some reality for you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF61lhEeGng


If you have the time, go to google videos and type in "one the movie" it's very good.