a non-story designed to LEAD AWAY FROM:
“Bain Capital, has cut checks totaling $90,000 to Romney’s operation. “
Posted on 12/17/2011 9:33:42 PM PST by billys kid
Boston Globe:
On his financial disclosure statement filed last month, Romney reported owning between $250,001 and $500,000 in a mutual fund that invests in debt notes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other government entities. Over the previous year, he had reported earning between $15,001 and $50,000 in interest from those investments.
And unlike most of Romney's financial holdings, which are held in a blind trust that is overseen by a trustee and not known to Romney, this particular investment was among those that would have been known to Romney.
The investment was also not on Romney’s 2007 financial disclosure form. A Romney aide said the investments were made in the latter half of 2007, after he had filed the earlier disclosure form. That was around the time that the scale of the housing crisis was coming into focus.
The campaign declined to comment on the record. The Romney aide said the investment was made by Romney's charitable trust.
A spokesman for American Bridge, the liberal opposition research group that pulled together Romney's financial records, said the candidate's Fannie and Freddie investments show that Romney's "hypocrisy knows no limits."
The Globe also notes that the fund containing Romney's Fannie and Freddie funds also included investments in Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase. If Romney invested in those banks in the second half of 2007, as a campaign aide says he did, then Romney's investments benefited from the federal bailout of those banks, which received tens of billions of dollars to stay afloat.
And wouldn't that also mean that if other bailouts were to come under a Romney presidency, he would likely benefit in some way somehow.
I don’t mind the investments by Mitt. It is the calling out of Newt who was only a consultant for Fannie and/or Freddie that is hypocritical. Lets see if Michelle comes after Mitt on the issue.
Ping..
It’s a MUTUAL FUND...I don’t believe he gets to choose what bonds/stocks are in it....it probably has a lot of others, too. I’m not a Romney fan, but let’s not be ignorant.
This stuff about Gingrich is such a pantload. He earned the money.
This could be a non-story.
I’d have to look to see what companies my mutual funds invest in.
I do agree, Newt was a consultant..so what? There is way too much being made of this issue.
And..no..Michele will not attack Myth on this. It would be the wrong target for her.
This could be a non-story.
I’d have to look to see what companies my mutual funds invest in.
I do agree, Newt was a consultant..so what? There is way too much being made of this issue.
And..no..Michele will not attack Myth on this. It would be the wrong target for her.
Sorry for the echo.
Question! What depth was Newt’s involvement/advice with Fannie and/or Freddie? Was it positive, negative, or neutral as far as transactions?
Thnks for educating me. I did’nt know that.
Nor does anyone in reality, except Newt and his co-workers.
Like I have already said..there seems to be much being made over a company headed by Newt. For all we know, the guy said..Fannie/Freddie..you guys are headed over a cliff.
Since he was a private citizen at the time..I regard this as a tempest in a teapot.
My issue isn't so much that Fannie paid an ass load of money for a "historian", but that Gingrich praised the Fannie/Freddie business model.
U.S. government securities are a key ingredient in investment banking and corporate finance of all kinds.
I kind of lump private equity, banks, investment banks, etc., all into “big money”.
What is called “wall street” does not really exist in the form that it used to, since repeal of Glass-Steagall allowed investment banks to become banks and thus qualify to borrow from the Federal Reserve discount window.
The worldwide government debt bubble (including the U.S.) is currently forcing all sorts of machinations to keep the major banks of the world from having them admit their insolvency.
The top 3 French banks have balance sheets that in total are 3 times the size of the French GDP.
Mitt has lived in the world of big-money since the beginning of his career; he knows nothing else.
That is why he instinctfully offered the $10,000 bet. That first instinct - without time to consider what he was saying - was most revealing. To him $10,000 is a bet between friends.
This is what I try to convey on Mitt. He may be a nice neighbor, a great PE guy, but he’s not what the nation needs as a President.
Remember the movie Dave ? Where the guy’s accountant came and looked over the country’s books and solved things ? That’s what we need for a President now. Somebody from main street.
They did assist people in a positive way to get a home.
You had to show credibility, promise your first born child and your right hand if you reneged on the loan.
Some where along the line that all changed. You could not state correct income and have no downpayment of any kind. No skin in the game, so to speak.
I don't know which business model Newt was praising.
I want to say it was in 2007 when he made those comments, but don't hold me to that.
“Bain Capital, has cut checks totaling $90,000 to Romney’s operation. “
so what - a lot of “government” funds are able to invest in these notes.
How many decades had Fannie & Freddie worked as planned until Congress got stupid?
I think the underlying issue (at least for me) is why the government was involved in this to begin with. I don't fault Newt for working for them. It's a job, and I probably wouldn't turn down >$1m as a historian, or whatever he's saying he was. But praising the business model is something he will have to thoroughly explain. I'm not saying he can't explain it well enough for me, but so far he hasn't.
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