[McGruff]

President Bush tried to head this off in 2003. New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae . It's amazing to me how unformed the public (and some FReepers) are.

Also John McCain saw a problem. John McCain 2006 - Warning On Current Housing Crisis.

[AFPhys]

From your first article in that post:

''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.

BUSTED

[militem]

Thanks so much for your post. I’m WI voter who was going to vote for McCain, but I got so depressed by this news I was just going to sit it out. By having that information I’m back on track.

[1035rep]

Also John McCain saw a problem. John McCain 2006 - Warning On Current Housing Crisis.

Thanks for posting. I've been looking for this link.

[ravinson]

You said "President Bush tried to head this off in 2003", but it was way too little, way too late. For ex:

The administration's proposal, which was endorsed in large part today [September 11, 2003] by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors.

If Bush had any guts, he would have made the threat posed by the Clinton/Gore Administration's new liberal federally-backed lending rules a major campaign issue in 2000. Instead, he gave us his typical wimpy Bush cheerleader stuff and tried to push the whole mess into the future (when he hoped he'd be safely back on the ranch.

Carl Icahn (see www.icahnreport.com) says that American corporations are rapidly losing gound to overseas operations because our corporate laws encourage back slapping fraternity President types like Bush to rise to the top and the prevailing (Delaware) coporate laws make it hard for shareholders to replace them.

Sarah Palin seems to have good instincts on economic matters, so I hope McCain listens to her and the libertarians and not the quick buck country clubbers who have dominated the Republican Party for far too long.