It's the Democrats fault

I'm no expert on finances or Wall Street, but I've learned one thing today.  The disasters that are going now are the Democrats fault:  From Stop the ACLU

Via Freerepublic

A September 11, 2003 New York Times article shows that President Bush proposed “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.” His proposal: An agency within the Treasury Department to supervise mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fearing that mortgages would no longer be available to people who were unable to pay them back, Democrats eventually killed the proposal. The current meltdown in the mortgage industry is a direct result of giving mortgages to people who could not pay them back, a practice protected by Congressional Democrats.

Via NY Times

From Audacity of Deception and Hypocrisy:  NY TIMES SEPT 2003: BUSH PROPOSED TIGHTENING OVERSIGHT OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC - THE DEMOCRATS OF CONGRESS BLOCKED IT:

 New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

By STEPHEN LABATON

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

… Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.

Comments

[American Interests]

A piece from the NY Times in 1999 ALSO provides insight into the when and why of the current global financial rot:

" ... Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits ... "

Link:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260

Notice: "Clinton Administration"!!!

~Otto

[Skunkfeathers]

The top four leading Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac donation recipients were Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. Notice the theme here?

The Democrats are more than willing to throw a lot of American investors and workers under the bus, to foment a crisis that they can ham-handedly blame on the Republicans for political gain. It's so outrageous and transparent, it's a wonder any educated person can vote Democrat.

[MK]

I read about this elsewhere and earlier in the year. It's disgusting that this economic crisis is being reported across the world and yet not a single word is mentioned about what you posted. What will it take for the world's media to be fair as they are supposed to be.

[Always On Watch]

That NYT article has been making the rounds on some blogs I read.

Can anyone say, "Gotcha!"?

[Paul]

So much for congressional oversight ! But then again Christopher Dodd is the senate banking committee chairman ! The same Christopher Dodd who reportedly recieved political donations from Fredi Mac or Fannie Mae.