Posted on 09/17/2008 10:51:13 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 09/16/2008 Pelosi Statement on $85 Billion AIG Loan
Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement tonight on the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will lend up to $85 billion to the American International Group:
“The Bush Administration’s eight long years of failed deregulation policies have resulted in our nation’s largest bailout ever, leaving the American taxpayers on the hook potentially for billions of dollars. An $85 billion loan is a staggering sum and is just too enormous for the American people to bear the risk; Congress will demand answers to prevent this from happening again.
“I have asked Chairman Barney Frank of the Financial Services Committee and Chairman Henry Waxman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a series of hearings that will examine the Bush Administration’s mismanagement of financial market regulation and how it led us to this remarkable failure. The questions we need answers to are whether fraud played a role in AIG’s failure; why foreign stakeholders are not contributing to help pay for the bailout; and why the Bush Administration didn’t use its existing regulatory authority effectively and sooner.
“The American people deserve to know how eight years of Republican government failed to protect their homes, pensions, college saving plans, and other long-term investments. We cannot afford four more years of the Bush Administration’s mismanagement of our economy.”
I was watching CNN this morning, getting the daily spin, and Governor Richardson said our economy is worse that it was during the great depression...blah blah blah....Bush's Fault...blah blah blah...
I presume that Bush remains mum on the subject.
Congress spends $85 billion every 10 days.
“I have asked Chairman Barney Frank of the Financial Services Committee...”
Putting Barneys Frank in charge of anything to do with Fannie is like putting the fox in charge of the hen, er, rooster house.
“Congress will demand answers to prevent this from happening again.”
Let’s see. Mr. Bush was in office less than 2 years and should have seen 9/11 coming.
The Democrats have controlled Congress for about the same amount of time, and didn’t see this coming?!
I hate Nancy Pelosi.
At $115 a barrel, we could pull $85 billion out of ANWR every 2 years.
I thought she just said it wasn’t the dems fault. by omission, she did say it was bush’s fault.
Pelosi’s Top 5 industry contributors (2008-2008 cycle):
Lawyers/Law Firms $186,900
Real Estate $127,882
Securities & Investment $116,600
Insurance $92,500
Lobbyists $89,300
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00007360
Hasn’t Frank been the Chairman of the FSC for the last two years?
That's going to go over like a lead balloon with voters in November. Henry Waxman seems to be a permanent fixture on all these half-ass oversight committe hearings. People are sick of this shiite. It's a supreme waste of taxpayer's money.
Of course. He never defends himself because he truly does not care what liberals think. The media will just distort whatever he might say, anyway and turn it into an attack on McCain and Palin.
Nan Nan Nan- Madam Speaker!
We taxpayers demand that James Johnson, Franklin Raines
(if they can be spared from the Obama campaign) and Jamie Gorelick be added to the investigative team
After all, FNMA paid these 3 over $125 million in combined compensation so we have to assume they are frickin’ geniuses in helping us understand how the books got cooked!
When is she leaving office?
Excuse me but weren't those two bozos supposed to be on top of the situation?
Rush was right today.
Liberals never have solutions.....just complaints..
The Truth About Fannie (2004 Article) Slate ^ | October 7, 2004 | by Daniel Gross
Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:18:48 AM by library user
** EXCERPT **
Fannie Mae, the federally chartered company that buys home mortgages and sells them as securities, is receiving a highly public fanny-kicking. After accounting issues arose last summer at Fannie's smaller and younger sibling, Freddie Mac, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight began to examine Fannie Mae's accounting practices. The result of the probe, detailed in a 211-page report issued last week, paints Fannie Mae as an Enron-in-the-making. At the company that prides itself on being a cuddly enabler of the American dream, OFHEO unearthed a "pervasive" misapplication of accounting standards, poor internal controls, and—the most headline-worthy charge—a pay structure that rewarded executives for meeting earnings goals, which encouraged executives to manipulate earnings to hit the number. In contentious hearings yesterday before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines and other executives, who denied wrongdoing, were raked over the coals. (Click here to read an "Assessment" of Raines.) The current disputes are couched in the language of financial arcana—accounting standards and the tricky task of valuing derivatives. But at root, Fannie's troubles concern psychology more than bookkeeping.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The desire to have earnings conform to some pre-existing plan is a recipe for trouble at a large corporation. One of the most damning segments of the OFHEO report (see Pages 7-12) discusses how, in order to be perceived as low risk, Fannie felt it had to present regular earnings growth. The meeting of earnings goals was so crucial that bonuses for top executives were pegged to them. In 1998, bonuses were based on hitting targets: earnings of $3.13 a share for the minimum bonus, $3.18 for the target bonus, and $3.23 or above for the maximum bonus. "Remarkably the 1998 EPS number turned out to be $3.2309," OFHEO deadpans. In order to meet the target, OFHEO suggests, Fannie Mae may have improperly deferred some $200 million in expenses.
1 posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:18:49 AM by library user [ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies | Report Abuse] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy should read this IBD article about the real culprits:
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306370789279709
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.