Posted on 09/18/2008 6:58:45 PM PDT by ETL
Jan 2005...
On Labor Day, he was a favorite to be Treasury Secretary should John Kerry win the White House. At yearend, he had left under a cloud. The charmed career of Franklin D. Raines -- a poor kid from Seattle who climbed through Harvard and a Rhodes Scholarship to become White House budget director and CEO of Fannie Mae (FNM ) -- crashed to a halt on Dec. 21. That was six days after the Securities & Exchange Commission's top accountant declared that mortgage giant Fannie misstated earnings for 3 1/2 years, leading to an estimated $9 billion restatement that will wipe out 40% of profits from 2001 to mid-2004.
Supporters of Raines, 55, insisted that he wasn't culpable for Fannie's misuse of obscure accounting standards. But that argument didn't wash. Raines was in charge in 2001, when Fannie chose to create what the SEC dryly called "its own unique methodology" to calculate the earnings impact of its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives. Raines gave Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard free rein and tolerated "weak or nonexistent" financial controls, according to a scathing report issued in September by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Fannie's regulator.
Worse, the CEO failed to manage the scandal. When sibling Freddie Mac's accounting first came under fire in mid-2003, Raines's arrogant insistence that Fannie was above reproach spurred OFHEO to do a white-glove examination. And when that uncovered the improper bookkeeping, Raines insisted on an SEC review, which he maintained would vindicate Fannie. "Frank was supposed to be the great political risk manager," says independent banking analyst Bert Ely in Alexandria, Va. "Instead, he compounded the problems."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
so let’s see-Harvard Grad, Rhodes Scholar-what an education pedigree-but there’s a problem with Palin because whe went to the Univ of Idaho. Seems to me that ol’ Franklin couldn’t manage a one car funeral.
AA
I wish EVERY voter could be given a copy of this and made to read it before they vote. Unfortunately, most would be too stupid to figure out what it means.
FANNIE-GATE!
They are printing money as as fast as they can!!!!!!!!!!!!
When it “Raines”, it pours money into his RainesBarrel.
Another demorat promoted beyond his level of compotency due to AA. And now we have one with a 50/50 shot at the white house. God save us.
“so let’s see-Harvard Grad, Rhodes Scholar...”
NO records exist that can confirm he even completed ONE Course.
No grades exist.
The School nor can anyone even locate a copy of his thesis!
He is an AA baby that never completed any course of study.
you’re sh*tting me!
Raines didn’t manage Fannie Mae...he looted it.
Franklin Raines owns a $20 million house in Bermuda.
Why is Franklin Raines not in prison?
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