I want to see some executives and government officials doing a perp walk soon.
have you seen this?
Oh lawdy
“You are charged with making stupid investment decisions!”
Does this put Raines and other dirtbags like him in the crosshairs? If so, the trail will lead to politicians and campaign contributions. I wonder how long it will be before they circle the wagons and cover each other’s rears- like they did with the 911 Commission and Able Danger.
Yeah, right. Bush’s (In)Justice Dept. couldn’t prosecute a fly.
Franklin Raines, et al were given a slap on the hand.
They need to be looking at Congress.
I’ m gonna take a guess that no preliminary investigation results will be reported by the networks before Spring.
Good thing about this is that the investigation will not be finished while the Bush Justice Department is in power. FBI investigates and the US Attorneys let people skate including Republicans here in OK that forged checks meant for one PAC to make it to another.
This is a job for our soon to be new Vice President Sarah Palin to oversee.
First give them more money then investigate. I feel better knowing how our tax dollars are being used.
Of course there is fraud.
The government (due to pressure from the liberals) forced lending institutions to stop “red-lining”. In other words, stopped them from drawing a line through those people who could not afford to buy homes. And the government forced the lending institutions to loan money to people who (1) didn’t have a down payment, (2) didn’t have good credit ratings, (3) didn’t have established income.
Since we don’t have debtors prison in this country, there was literally no risk involved to those people who bought homes they couldn’t afford.
So, lots of poor, disadvantaged people were able to buy new homes they could not afford. (This was good for new home construction.) To furnish these newly bought homes, they bought houses-full of new furniture with credit card credit. (Good for credit card companies.) Naturally, since these new home owners are living above their means, they could NOT pay the credit card debit or the mortgage payments – and eventually everything has to go back.
But that’s not the whole problem. There is the FRAUD. Greedy, self-serving people saw the line forming to get credit without risk – and here is where the fraud comes in – they got their brothers, sisters, relatives, to get in the “cheap” line – rather than getting in the line to purchase reasonable and affordable housing. Of course, the lending institutions participated in the fraud.
If you see two lines: one line of people who are given credit without risk, and one line of people who are given credit at a risk – which line gets longer?
Two separate issues here: Fraud and socialism.
Nice. I’d like some sleep-deprived interrogations,followed by confessions, followed by 3AM trials covered by C-Span and a delicious and fitting sentence.
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/mreagan/2008/mr_09191.shtml
‘...According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top three U.S. Senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats, and No. 2 was Sen. Barack Obama, who as Fox noted had only been in the Senate four years but still managed to grab that No. 2 spot ahead of longtime colleagues John Kerry and Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
According to Fox, Fannie and Freddie were where big-time Washington Democrats went to work and pocketed millions. Franklin Raines, Clinton’s White House Budget Director, ran Fannie and collected $50 million.
Jamie Gorelick, an official in Clinton’s Justice Department — the woman who built the “wall” that prevented the FBI from targeting terrorists before 9/11 — worked for Fannie Mae and took home $26 million. Big-time Democrat Jim Johnson, who headed Obama’s VP search committee, also hauled in millions from running Fannie Mae...’
W stepping up to the plate and taking a swing? Another "misunderestimation"?
It may not be Biden that Hillary needs to be replacing on the ticket.
Good!
In all liklihood, NOTHING will be done to any of these people.
In fairness, the perp walk should start with the members of Congress who opened the door for this fraud and corruption, then failed to stop it before it reached this point.
Once we get the politicians who supported it behind bars, THEN we need to go after the CEOs and mis-managers who perpetrated the fraud, cooked the books, under-reported their losses, whatever.
Finally, (and this will get me fire-bombed for blasphemy), we need to go after the members of the Bush administration who have introduced and supported the $700 billion bailout for corrupt, multimillionaire CEOs.
Let’s be clear - what Bush has introduced with this bailout is nothing short of socialism that hands the average taxpayer a bill for $2300.00 each to bail out multimillionaire crooks on Wall St. Our country is supposed to be about capitalism and the consequences that come with it everytime someone screws the investors, board of directors and mismanages their company into bankruptcy. As a taxpayer, I object to my money being used to bail these people’s butts out of the fire. THEY made this mess, let THEM fix it!!
Tax dollars should NOT be allocated to rescue multimillionaire crooks for being crooks. I shouldn’t have to bear the burden of their malfeasance, nor should my children, grandchildren or great grandchildren.
And, NO, I’m not about class warfare or wealth envy. (well, actually, I AM about wealth envy, I want to get in on it, but NOT by buying up their bad deals and bad debts.) The US will no doubt face some tough times as the result of letting these corporations fail due to their own mismanagement. But, bailing them out AND allowing the CEOs to keep their severance bonuses (potentially worth millions) is wrong and rewards them for being crooks.
Certain politicians are running around claiming that the taxpayers will reap benefits by letting the bailout go through. What benefits?
Will my wife, family and I be able to afford a 2-week cruise around the Med?? Will there be a “go to Disney World for free” event, paid for by the benefits we reap from the bailout? Will my taxes be reduced (permanently) with the proceeds from the benefits I will see??
The answer to those rhetorical questions are “no”, “no”, and “are you freakin’ kidding me?”
Let’s face it, dressing a turkey in a ball gown doesn’t make it a prom queen. It’s still just a turkey in a really stupid looking dress!!
This crisis is 100% the result of congress’ insatiable desire to make the electorate dependent on government, and fed with the placement of Clinton administration “experts” in positions of greater importance than their abilities would dictate. I hope the FBI will nail all of the crooks, but based on recent experience, it is doubtful.
This is WAY WORSE than Enron—these folks were paid by US, literally, and have sold us out to the global financial world now laughing at the bailout...they should be prosecuted for treason.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13841
“...Both Raines and Johnson have served as CEO of Fannie Mae, with Raines taking over from Johnson. Both are key political and economic advisers to Obama.
“How can Obama go out with a straight face and saw it was Republicans who made this mess, when it is his key advisers who ran the agencies that made the big mess what it is?” says a Democrat House member who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. “It’s his people who are responsible for what may well be the single largest government bailout in history. And every single one of them made millions off the collapse that are lining Obama’s campaign coffers. If the McCain campaign lets this one go, they deserve to lose.”
It isn’t just Fannie Mae where Obama has a problem. Another close political adviser, in fact the one man responsible for rallying support for Obama early on among Congressional Democrats, is Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who served on the Board of Directors for Freddie Mac after leaving the Clinton White House. According to Freddie Mac insiders, Emanuel during his time on the board opposed every reform proposed by the Bush Administration that would have impacted Freddie and Fannie Mae...”