ARROGANT TITANS FLUNK THE LEADERSHIP TEST (chapped lips from kissing their mirrors)

NY POST ^ | 10/11/08 | Bloomberg News

[Liz]

Executives passing the buck for failures win no sympathy. "They need to man up and take responsibility," said Warren Bennis, U of So California. "They kept believing in their own omniscience thinking they can get away with anything." CEO's summoned to Capitol Hill offered a variety of excuses for their failures. Lehman Brothers' Richard Fuld said that management did "everything we could to protect the firm." Fuld's 8-year compensation totaled $484.8M. Harvey Mackay, author of "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: "They all have chapped lips from kissing the mirror too much."

[Liz]

Fuld and AIG CEO Martin Sullivan are the face of corporate greed. Now the Federal Reserve yesterday boosted its total tab for AIG's rescue to $122.5 billion, adding $37.8 billion to its original $85 billion lifeline three weeks ago. With taxpayers money in their pockets---AIG honchos luxuriated with a $440,000 junket at this posh spa at California's St. Regis resort.

Ever wonder how many sex acts US taxpayers paid for? Lookit that overstuffed AIG CEO Sullivan---guy's gotta be paying for it---no decent woman would volunatarily perform sex acts on this overfed pig.

The market will continue to crash until Bush goes to the Rose garden and announces he's unleasing rhe FBI, DOJ, state AG's and the entire justice apparat to nail AIG spa-goers, Raines and the Fannie Mae thieves, hedgers, Fuld.... all these guys that put personal greed over the well-being of stockholders and the US economy. Bush must announce people will go to jail for their massive crimes.......crimes they deliberately committed to satiate their unbridled greed.

[ReignOfError]

The “junket” was hosted by a division of the company that was and still is profitable. It was a reward for the independent insurance agencies that sell AIG’s policies, none of whom had a thing to do with mortgage derivatives. It was booked in advance and mostly non-refundable.

So what should AIG have done? Cancel the trip and show the back of its hand to the people who are actually making them money, so they could save a fraction of the cost of the event and improve their balance sheet by .00001%?

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

The market will continue to crash until Bush goes to the Rose garden and announces he's unleasing rhe FBI, DOJ, state AG's.......

Amen! What does Bush have to lose? Two months ago, I could have seen him just waiting it out in the WH, believing that history would exonerate him. Not gonna' happen now! Right now, we need a strong president who is actually leading us. Not two wanna-be politicians who pretend to have all the answers.

While I'm at it. Ain't it funny how, while most of the country was having a love fest with their boutique lifestyles and immense 401k's, they were, simultaneously bashing Bush for the "struggling" economy. He got no credit for bringing us through some of the toughest economic times in our history (Sept. 11, Enron, internet bubble) or for getting us to the highest standard of living the country has ever enjoyed. (I know, it was a house-of-cards economy, but I am focused on where the credit was going) Libs blamed him when things were good great, and now they blame him when everything is tanking.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

So what should AIG have done? Cancel the trip ....

In a word, YES! It is called "appearances".

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

So what should AIG have done? Cancel the trip ....

In a word, YES! It is called "appearances".

[raybbr]

Lookit that overstuffed AIG CEO Sullivan---guy's gotta be paying for it---no decent woman would volunatarily perform sex acts on this overfed pig.

Corpulence is a common disease among the affluent CEO class.

[Reeses]

It’s a conservative cause to be furious about taxpayer money being abused. But unbridled envy is not conservative. The current economic mess was caused by affirmative action lending and other government policy changes. We shouldn’t behave like leftists looking for rich white capitalists to demonize and pin the blame on.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“The current economic mess was caused by affirmative action lending and other government policy changes.”

IMHO this mess was caused by very wealthy people trying to become even more wealthy at the expense of the middle class. The “elites” exploit the lower class for their own purposes, using people like Jackson and Sharpton to keep their peeps in line. In exchange they get humored and get to sit at the grownup table.

In my opinion this is what happened. The wealthy elites used Fannie and Freddy as their personal piggy bank. They did the same with oil, pumping up the price to ridiculous levels then selling off, making huge profits. The ones who lost money, got bailed out. The ones who made money are now sitting back waiting for the markets collapse, so that they as well as the bailout recipients can use our taxpayer dollars to buy back everything at bargain basement prices.

In the interim, the busted out their political rivals. This was a Democrat powerplay that filled their coffers, while at the same time blaming this on the Republicans.

Bambi is a tool for the elites. The Democrats played it out over the last 8 years where they marginalized the Presidency. Bambi will turn into a figurehead as the legislative and judicial branches of goverment take over.

Europe here we come. And there isn’t going to be a damn thing we can do about it because “if you control the information the people get, you control the people.”

And the MSM has that pretty well wrapped up. The minute the internet can be legislated, the fairnes doctrine implemented and the second amendment repealed, we will be a Marxist society.

[Nailbiter]

2nd amendment was designed for issues such you describe

[Diogenesis]

Dodd: "Wow, Barney, with you in bed with everyone, we have it made.
Endless kickbacks. Women and money for free. No accountability.
Oh, how it must truly suck to be our helpless constituents.
"

[Reeses]

In my opinion this is what happened. The wealthy elites used Fannie and Freddy as their personal piggy bank. They did the same with oil, pumping up the price to ridiculous levels then selling off, making huge profits.

Conspiracy theories are easy to think up, just don't go off the deep end and believe in them without actual evidence. The big problem with conspiracies is the only way that two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead. Increase the conspiracy to dozens or hundreds of living players and keeping the lid on the plan is humanly impossible. If your creative theory is true then there must be hard evidence somewhere to back it up.

Oil prices went up because of supply and demand changes, mainly increasing demand. Oil consumption increases 3% per year and even faster now with China and India developing. But supply is not keeping up since the easy stuff has already been pumped. Now with a depression forming world wide demand has fallen hard which results in falling prices.

There are very few truly greedy people in the world and most end up in jail under their own power. However there are billions of truly envious people that project their envy onto others as false greed. Marxists try to whip up the masses into an envious rage because they can advance their goal of destroying the objects of their envy.

The smart rich people in America tend not to be sinister and evil. It's too easy for them to make money honestly. Most evil comes from the envious, and true greed is really an extreme form of envy.

I agree Marxism is growing in America. But it's not coming from the smart rich people but from those who envy America and wish to destroy it. Their false happiness over the Wall Street meltdown is apparent, and they feel safe now in displaying their normally masked envy. They should be called on their envy and held up for contempt. Cooking up conspiracy theories to blame the rich is not the way to handle this attack on America.

[Liz]

Must be all those lunches and dinners at 5-star restaurants——which use copius amounts of butter and cream in those delectable dishes.

[Liz]

"Nice bwailot, guys---we soon will be lolling on our vewy own
twopical beachfwont villas near all of our offshore bank accounts."

[raybbr]

This is not just a democrat problem. Look at the years that purchasing from Fannie and Freddie ballooned. It was under a republican Congress and White House. Bush has been pushing "homeownership" for minorities his entire presidency.

When HUD released the next set of goals in 2004, it reported that after Cuomo's previous edict, there had been a sudden spurt of GSE subprime investment, "partly in response to higher affordable-housing goals set by HUD in 2000." Fannie had gone from $1.2 billion in subprime-mortgage and securities purchases in 2000 to $9.2 billion in 2001 and $15 billion in 2002. Freddie's numbers were murkier, but clearly also on the rise. In 2003 alone, the two bought $81 billion in subprime securities—which also count against the goals.

Fannie also developed a "flexible" product line, providing up to 100 percent financing and requiring borrowers to make as little as a $500 contribution, and bought $13.7 billion of those loans in 2003. In addition to subprime loans and securities, both banks burst into the "alt-a" market, making alternative products easily available to borrowers who had slightly better credit histories than subprime borrowers, but were unwilling to provide full documentation of their financial histories. (It was the "alt-a" investments that recently brought down the private bank IndyMac.) These risky adventures, according to the 2004 HUD report, prompted Freddie to claim that "the increased goals created tension in its business practices between meeting the goals and conducting responsible lending practices," a self-serving attempt to plant the blame back on HUD.

After this initial uptick, the two banks purchased $434 billion in securities backed by subprime loans between 2004 and 2006. The Washington Post noted this June that the GSEs' aggressive acquisitions "created a market for more such lending" by others, feeding the fire. No one knows just how big a bite the subprime mess is now taking out of the GSEs, or how much of that portfolio will ultimately go bad, but it has become axiomatic that, whatever the total, it is too much, since it will have seriously shaken confidence in these two linchpin institutions.
From here.

[raybbr]

Must be all those lunches and dinners at 5-star restaurants——which use copius amounts of butter and cream in those delectable dishes.

Actually I think it because they are like the "Wraith" in Stargate - they actually feed off of other beings sucking the very life out of them.

[Liz]

Cooking up conspiracy theories to blame the rich is not the way to handle this attack on America.

Oh please---get down off your soapbox. There's plenty of blame to go around.

To exculpate the CEO's who had their greedy hands in the moneypot is just plain dumb.

EQANDY BUZZ NAILS IT: "The wealthy elites used Fannie and Freddy as their personal piggy bank. They did the same with oil, (speculators) pumping up the price to ridiculous levels then selling off, making huge profits. The ones who lost money, got bailed out. The ones who made money are now sitting back waiting for the markets collapse, so that they as well as the bailout recipients can use our taxpayer dollars to buy back everything at bargain basement prices. In the interim, the busted out their political rivals. This was a Democrat powerplay that filled their coffers, while at the same time blaming this on the Republicans."

[mewzilla]

Meanwhile, from a couple of weeks ago....

Senator Hides His Sweet Deals When Will He Release Records?

Anyone know if Dodd's coughed up yet?

[Liz]

So what should AIG have done? Cancel the trip ....

Of course thet would have cancelled the trip....if (BIG IF) they had a shred of humanity in them. Clearly, these self-absorbed individuals have no concern for anyone or anything execept their immediate gratification.

This selfishness, Me-First obsession, and self-aggrandizement is wreaking havoc in our culture. These people worship at the Church of Whatever Works For ME.

[Liz]

"What quid pro quo? I tell ya---it was a lousy mortgage from my pal, Angie."

[Teacher317]

Neither the CEO's nor their firms failed. They were put into an untenable position... some would say intentionally. The Left pressured lenders into giving loans to unqualified applicants, often based on race. Anyone who might have the good sense to refuse to make such a loan would be threatened with a lawsuit for discrimination, facing vast losses via PR even if the suit is unsuccessful. Thus, few refused. Heck, why not feel good about helping the poor, right? Give the loan, potentially improve the bottom line, feel like you're a part of "social justice", and the Feds will even let you cook the books a little if necessary to cover things up. Well, it has come back to bite us in the ass... and it isn't the CEO's who are primarily responsible.

The MSM and our representatives are more than happy to see the anti-capitalist cry and hue from the crowd, but we all must remember who is REALLY responsible for this criminally short-sighted insanity and this huge financial fiasco.

[Liz]

Fannie had gone from $1.2 billion in subprime-mortgage and securities purchases in 2000 to $9.2 billion in 2001 and $15 billion in 2002. Freddie's numbers were murkier, but clearly also on the rise. In 2003 alone, the two bought $81 billion in subprime securities—which also count against the goals.

Raines was fraudulently cooking the books in order to collect millions in bonuses. Raines was eventually fired and ordered to give back $50 million in bouses (don't hold your breath). Not to worry---Raines was fired for fraudulent practices, but he walked away with millions.

Proving you can fool most of the people most of the time until you get caught,
Franklin Raines (seen here) looted and pillaged Fannie Mae as Clinton's appointee.

RAINING MONEY - Franklin Raines fired for cooking the books---walks away w/ $90 million tax dollars

Franklin Raines reigned for 5 years following Clinton's appointing him as CEO of Fannie Mae, the US' quasi-governmental mortgage house, has now been ousted.

There are several ongoing investigations of Fannie Mae's operations and accounting practices covering the last 5 years in order to determine when accounting irregularities started and the magnitude of the financial shortfalls. Current estimates indicate that there was a $9 billion misstatement of earnings and accounting irregularities between 2000-2004.

(POSTER'S NOTE: Can you say offshore wire transfer?)

Former chief executive Franklin Raines received more than $40 million in bonuses and other pay as a result of falsely inflated earnings at the US' largest mortgage finance company. This is according to a supplement of a lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro. Fannie Mae added "tens of millions of false revenue" to meet "Raines' 1999 publicly announced goal to double" earnings over the next five years, Petro's November 23, US District Court in Washington alleges. The filing alleges that, "Raines personally profited by over $40 million by this false earnings history.

Update -- 2/22/2006: Former Senator Warren Rudman's team of investigators and auditors selected from his law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and from Huron Consulting Group presented their 600-page report calling Fannie Mae's accounting systems "grossly inadequate." It is based on a review of millions of documents.

The report found that accounting obfuscations were intended to increase stock valuations, thus increasing executive bonuses.

Raines was one of the most influential and politically savvy figures in Washington is identified by the Rudman investigation as not directly knowing that Fannie Mae's accounting practices violated rules. The report does state, "We did find, however, that Raines contributed to a culture that improperly stressed stable earnings growth and that... he was ultimately responsible for the failures that occurred on his watch".

Raines will continue to live well being supported by Fannie Mae's shareholders. Some relevant facts include:

-- Raines and his wife will be paid $114,393 a month as long as they live.

-- Stock options: Raines holds vested stock options worth roughly $5.7 million.

-- Stock bonuses: Raines was granted awards, payable in stock, for reaching performance goals. Under the program, he got 69,577 shares... half of what Fannie determined he should receive in January. At Monday's close, the shares are worth $4.9 million. It is unclear if he will receive the rest.

-- Deferred pay: For tax planning while employed by the company, Raines was allowed to put off the receipt of payment. These deferred past payments total $8.7 million

Future salary: Although Fannie Mae says Raines' retirement was effective December 21, 2004, he is seeking to have it effective as of June 22, 2005, and thereby receive $600,000 more in pay.

Mr. Raines followed a well-worn path in the United States during the later half of the 20th century. His humble beginnings were in Seattle. He won a scholarship to Harvard and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He worked on Wall Street for over a decade in the prestigious firm Lazard Freres. He was a member of President Clinton’s cabinet and director of his Office of Management and Budget. In 1999, Clinton selected him for the position of Fannie Mae CEO.

Following revelations of the financial scandal, Mr. Raines took early retirement from Fannie Mae so that he could collect a compensation package including $1 million per year for life and $11 million in vested stock. In 2003 Mr. Raines was paid $20 million in salary and bonus.

Fannie Mae is facing criminal investigations by the Justice Department, operational investigations by the SEC, and various Congressional investigations. There are questions regarding earnings statements being incorrectly inflated. In 2003, if derivative and other losses had been included, no bonuses would have been paid to top executives. However, deferral of the losses allowed declared earnings to reach a level which triggered maximum executive bonuses.

It is a far stretch to imagine that Franklin Raines actually was capable of satisfying the requirements of the positions he held from Harvard to Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. If he had been competent enough to hold those positions, how could he have been Fannie Mae's CEO for 5 years and allowed, not known about, or not understood that $9,000,000,000 was being mishandled.

===============================================

9/26/08 UPDATE: LA grand jury probing Countrywide VIP loans
LAtimesblogs via WSJ ^ | September 25, 2008 | Peter Viles

FR Posted on 09/26/2008 5:50:44 AM PDT by stockpirate

The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is investigating the so-called "Friends of Angelo" loan program at Countrywide Financial, under which influential borrowers received preferential terms on home loans. The reported borrowers under the program have included U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines, and California state appeals court judge Richard Aldrich. (Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...

[Liz]

The Left pressured lenders into giving loans to unqualified applicants, often based on race.

Let me fix that----sap-happy, guilt-ridden liberals sucked up to "The Less Fortunate" in cockmamie, air-headed, do-gooder schemes in order to "feel good" about themselves.

I guess this beats seeing one's analyst at five hundred bucks an hour.

[ReignOfError]

>>>So what should AIG have done? Cancel the trip ....

In a word, YES! It is called "appearances".

And how would it appear to those agents, the folks the company relies on, to stiff them on a promised trip at the last minute? It would look a lot like they ought to be doing business with another company.

The timing of the trip is embarrassing, but I thought we were supposed to look at the facts and reach a rational conclusion. Emotional overreaction is supposed to be the domain of liberals.

[ReignOfError]

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of grounds to attack the top execs at AIG, and on Wall Street in general. It’s just that this trip is a poor example, one that amounts to being tacky and looking bad.

It’s like criticizing OJ Simpson because when he was murdering Ron and Nicole he was also wearing white after Labor Day.

[razorback-bert]

Actually if anyone had paid attention to the Clinton years in Arkansas, they would seen the model for what happened now. Arkansas Development Corporation borrowed public money, loaned money to business with proviso they give a large percentage to political and special non-profits. I and three others warned of this practice and other slick tricks. Clinton put the looters in Freddie, Fannie and other places and they preformed as expected.

Ann Ryan warn of this very thing years ago.

[Liz]

You know it’s filthy if the Clintons are connected to it.

Wonder what the Clintons cut from the F/M frauds was?