Fannie-Gate...Where's The Investigation

NRO Online ^ | 9.9.08 | Byron York

[bamahead]

There wasn't an individual thread on this one, but I feel it needs to be included here because it is definitely relevant:

From the NYT - 2003

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.

''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan

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

Fannie Mae, which was previously known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, which was the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, have been criticized by rivals for exerting too much influence over their regulators.

''The regulator has not only been outmanned, it has been outlobbied,'' said Representative Richard H. Baker, the Louisiana Republican who has proposed legislation similar to the administration proposal and who leads a subcommittee that oversees the companies. ''Being underfunded does not explain how a glowing report of Freddie's operations was released only hours before the managerial upheaval that followed. This is not world-class regulatory work.''

Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. 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.

[WOBBLY BOB]

BTTT

[Wuli]

With the following post we now WHY Obama took the bribes from Fred/Fannie and why he did not seek their reform; it would hurt his money-bags; see

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084495/posts

[TruthWillWin]

Another question is: Where’s the investigation of StallTroopWithdrawalGate?

[Wuli]

3rd or 4th add’l FannieGate post found today

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084439/posts

[Wuli]

5th FannieGate addition today

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084407/posts

[Para-Ord.45]

- Clinton administration’s White House Budget Director Franklin Raines ran Fannie Mae Raines and obtained $90,128,761 in compensation from 1998 to 2003. Of this amount, $52,815,708 was derived from components tied to attaining EPS goals. Raines is due more than $1 million annually for life.

- CFO Timothy Howard (D) received $30,155,029 in compensation from 1998 to 2003.

- Jamie Gorelick, Clinton Justice Department official,remember the wall of separation that denied agencies to share intelligence on terrorists, worked for Fannie and received $26,466,834 in compensation from 1998 to 2003.

- Executive Vice President Robert Levin received $26,418,623 in compensation from 1998 to 2003.

- Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, is getting $14.1 million.

- Democrat Jim Johnson, recently on Obama’s VP search committee, has hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae CEO job.

Barack Obama: No. 2 on the Fannie/Freddie list of favored politicians.

Obama`s campaign is littered with the like-minded:

- Penny Pritzker, Obama’s national finance chair was, with her family, the half owner of Superior Bank, which was shut down in 2001 by the FDIC after it had lost nearly all of its more than $2 billion of assets on bad loans to high-risk borrowers.

- Valerie Jarrett,Obama advisor, a former political operative for Mayor Richard M. Daley, and the CEO of a housing and development company based in Chicago with ties to Obama going back to his Illinois legislature days.

[phillyfanatic]

Dems rarely go to jail even with great corruption. Pubs resign, go for a trial and get nailed. And for lesser problems. The Net, Fox may put this story out but I doubt that the MSM will give a fig for this because it ruins their story. Now if McCain and Sarah would actually mention it, who knows if it will gain traction. My guess is, John is still too nice to Dems with only 40 days to go. And they are his and America’s enemy.

[HP8753]

Democrat Party Corruption Bump

[Ann Archy]

Franklin Raines AND Jamie Gorelick need to be in PRISON!

[GSWarrior]

Jamie Gorelick and the wall of silence. How did they let this woman near the 9/11 commission?

[RochesterFan]

Jamie Gorelick and the wall of silence. How did they let this woman near the 9/11 commission?

Who else would folks with the character of Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, Barney Frank, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi consider for a 'good soldier?' John McCainneeded a good soldier and chose Sarah Palin. Character counts. Never forget that we are in a culture war.

[Lexinom]

2003: ''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.''

[Lexinom]

More Fannie-gate links:

President Bush proposed a new agency to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to circumvent precisely this type of crisis. That was in 2003.

Senator McCain expressed his concern about the governing regulatory structure over Fannie and Freddie in 2006.

Daniel Mudd calls Democrats and the "Family" and "Conscience" of "my company" (video), and boasts about facilitating loans to many folks who might not be able to repay their loans. And what happened?

In 2004, a suit was filed on behalf of Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Reason: Securities fraud.

Lastly, take a gander at the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac campaign contribution list! The List covers 1989-2006, yet the #2 guy has not even been in the Senate four years!!!

[Lexinom]

Another entry - part of the cover-up effort:

Franklin Raines [cached version of Wikepedia entry before changes]