Money Beat

To Obamanation and undecided voters- read this. Let get rid of this myth that Obama is better for the economy. He never saw this coming.

Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation

I can't wait for Ronald Reagan's me, me, me, generation of Republicans to hit the dusty trail, and their greedy me me me now now now attitude about everything if its not good for me me me now now now its not good fopr America, well good bye turds and fairwell good riddence, we will not miss you but, will long remember why we sent you packing.

Uh Phil Gramm, got rid of the law that prevented this kind of theft and malfesance by the banking industry in the 1st place. And he thinks that all of this crisis talk is a mental illness. Forget Obama, McCain is a FOOL! And only knows hot to appropriate, BOMB, and baloon debt on the backs of the American people. If McCain, Obama, or ANY of the other political HACKS let these crooks get away with their golden parachutes, on top of having US be forced by government to bail them out when they can't even run a balanced budget, then it's time to get in their faces, and get in the streets with recall petitions and vote them OUT!!! If they don't represent US, let's put in somebody who will!!!

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis's firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said...

This after McCain said his manager had nothing to with this company for quite a few years...

MCCain ONE BIG A** LIER!!!

What the hell does Fannie Mae have to do with this mess anyways?

I will answer my own question. Fannie Mae bought some of the improperly rated mortgage backed securities.

That's it. They didn't create the bad loans. They didn't turn them into tainted securities. They didn't push these securities.

EVERY AMERICAN has the right to expect the government to engage in common sense oversight, before things go to hell.

Specifically, regulators should:
1. Stay awake. Keep their eyes open as to risky new practices in the financial sector.
2. Require full and real time disclosure of the the debts and risks being taken by all major financial institutions INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS.
3. Take action to prohibit practices which endanger the U.S. economy.

Is that so hard to understand?

THEN WHY HAVE THE REPUBLICANS BEEN TRYING TO BURY COMMON SENSE OVERSIGHT FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS?

Fannie Mae is not sufficiently culpable to be the Republicans' scape goat.

Another example of how deregulation fails. Seems one must legislate morality or there is none.

You know what, Hmn, McCain is a fool. You're correct. It's the best way to put it.

Can we really afford this bail out? There are other critical needs for funds and assistance from the Federal Government, which will not be readily avaialable. Examples include the military, energy alternatives, education and health care. Those are essential. Are they more essential than assuring banking and financial markets continue as they have? Not how they're supposed to function, but as they've actually functioned in the recent past?

Wasnt it the same dumb Paulson who just 2 weeks ago said he needed a bazooka for Freddy and Fannie, but was SURE he wouldnt have to use it? How long did that BS last? After $200 BILLION to FIX EVERYTHING, NOW HE NEEDS $800 BILLION TO "FIX" EVERYTHING? HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST THIS INCOMPETENT BIG SPENDER WHO CANT KEEP HIS WORD FOR MORE THAN A WEEK? The $800 BILLION GREEDY WALL STREET “BAILOUT RESCUE” DOESN’T “FIX” ANYTHING. EVERY ONE OF THESE HYPED UP “RESCUES” TO USE TAXPAYER BILLIONS TO PAY PAULSON’S RICH WALL STREET FRIENDS LOSSES HAS FAILED. THE MARKET HAS DROPPED LOWER AFTER EVERY ONE OF THESE HAIR BRAINED GREEDY WALL STREET PONZI SCHEMES. JUST CHECK THE CHARTS AFTER TAF, SIV, FREDDY, FANNY, BEAR, AIG, and NOW. WHY? YOU CANT ERASE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF SUBPRIME LOSSES, PRIME, CREDIT CARD, BUSINESS DEBT, REAL ESTATE ASSETS, DEFAULT SWAP CONTRACTS LOSSES, BY JUST TRANSFERRING $800 BILLIONS OF PAULSONS GREEDY WALL STREET FRIENDS LOSSES TO TAXPAYERS. THAT DOESN’T SOLVE ANY PROBLEM AT ALL. (oops, did we say the truth?) THE LOSSES ARE STILL LOSSES, AND THEY ARE MUCH BIGGER. HOWEVER IT WILL GET THE CONGRESSMEN KICKED OUT OF OFFICE WHO VOTE TO SPEND $800 BILLION TAXPAYER MONEY FOR PAULSON’S FRIENDS. VOTERS ARE VERY ANGRY TO USE BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER MONEY FOR BERNANKY AND PAULSON’s RICH WALL STREET FRIENDS with no oversight, no details, no CEO salary caps. HOW GREEDY CAN PAULSON, BERNANKY, and THEIR WALL STREET FIRMS GET? (DID WE MENTION PAULSON IS EX WALL STREET EXEC?) We want responsible government, less BILLIONS taxpayer money spent, less credit, so markets can go up.
THEIR RICH FRIENDS MADE BILLIONS PROFIT BEFORE, SO WHY SHOULD TAXPAYERS PAY THEIR BILLIONS LOSSES NOW?
WHY NOT GIVE $800 BILLION to AIRLINES, AUTO COMPANIES, HOME OWNERS, EDLERLY, RETIREES, CHILDREN, SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, CITY GOVERNMENTS, STATE GOVERNMENTS, STAR BUCKS, DOGS, CATS, ……..?
First PAULSON/BERNANKY PANKY want $20 Billion to “fix it”, next $30 Billion, then they “need” $80 BILLION to “fix it”, Then they “need” $200 BILLION, now they say need $800 BILLION “to fix” it. How can anyone believe these incompetent SPEND BILLIONS BERNANKY AND PAULSON? WHATS NEXT? WANT $2 TRILLION TAXPAYER MONEY FOR YOUR WALL STREET FRIENDS? SO YOU CAN “FIX IT”? BUT YOUR MANY “BAILOUT FIXES” DON’T WORK.
VOTE THE CONGRESSMEN OUT WHO VOTE TO WASTE $800 BILLION TAXPAYER MONEY FOR PAULSONS FRIENDS:
SEND MESSAGE TO CONGRESS HERE: VOTE for $800 Billion taxpayer funds and we vote you OUT fast.
http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

It's very strange that a proposal that could end up costing us billions of dollars is so vague that it contains only 3 pages of documents.

Very disappointing.

I don't want the bail out. The government didn't bail out my sister when she lost her home, because her income was split in half. I din't invest in the risky business and won't get anything, but a big bill for me, my son and granddaughters. When you invest you take risk. Good and bad.

I don't want the bail out. The government didn't bail out my sister when she lost her home, because her income was split in half. I didn't invest in the risky business and won't get anything, but a big bill for me, my son and granddaughters. When you invest you take risk. Good and bad. Get a refund from the CEO.

Paulson and the quants knew. NYT: “There was a willful designing of the systems to measure the risks in a certain way that would not necessarily pick up all the right risks,” said Gregg Berman

Dems and Reps took millions from financial services industry, now act surprised.

I've heard this panic tune before, only it was called weapons of mass destruction, let Wall Street bail theirself out

This $700 billion dollar bailout is ridiculous and I sincerely hope Congress votes no on this measure to come before Congress. We obviously have a market failure and our lack of oversight over the past decade has led us to this dire mess. However, everyone is acting out of panic and not thinking about the long term consequences. This bailout only benefits the institutions that got us here in the first place.

I suggest we let capitalism survive and play itself out. Institutions that engaged in poor or unethical business practices should be left to die. And those who continue to be strong will rise to the top even stronger.

Regardless of whatever happens every American will face a tough time. But I don’t think that printing extra money to cover this bailout, thus increasing inflation is the right idea. Plus our kids and grandchildren will be forced to pay for this. This disastrous measure will only hurt the everyday American, many of whom are just trying to go about their daily lives.

In addition this bailout sends the wrong message to those who flat out don’t deserve to be bailed out. And what is next? The airline, auto, homebuilder, hotel/travel, and restaurant industries. Each could claim they deserve the same due to the slow-down in the economy. When will this stop? This bailout only sets up a slippery-slope for disaster.

If Congress is so hell-bent on spending this amount of money, we have other major issues such as Social Security and Healthcare which would greatly benefit from $700 billion.

Let true capitalism thrive! Americans don't want this bill passed. Everyone should contact their congressional figures - http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

This bailout does more harm than good. Market speculators now know that no matter how bad a company performs, there is always a big old golden government parachute waiting to pop open and remove all the consequences of poor management and unnecessary risk taking.

How is the free market supposed to work if there are no consequences?

Either due to incompetence, deception or a combination of both, over the past 7 ½ years the Bush Administration has been wrong on every single recommendation or evaluation that it has presented to the American people. In the face of all present uncertainties, it seems to me that the most prudent course of action must be exactly the opposite of what the Administration now recommends.

This Congress is out of its mind! They need to get up and show some backbone and do what's right for the country. This political system doesn't work any longer. If you stood around in your job and pointed your finger at all of your co-workers, trembled at the thought of making a decision and let your company go down the tubes, you would be made available to the industry -- because you would be FIRED. The Bush White House has been wrong about everything. Big surprise. Move on and fix something for once. This is the most inept Congress in history.

they should hire the fema folks they are great at saying NO/ We have roof damage water damage fema said no. I finally got some clothes today for our family .
I swear all the fema agents are so great at saying no they should let them yell at congress and the senate. No one is helping us but ourselves why in the h eck should banks wall street be bailed out.
Hurricane ike suvivers sure aren't seeing anything yet......

The BAILOUT is not needed or if Congress has to spend 700 billion spend it on alternative energy, infrastructure, or another tax refund to the American Taxpayer and see the results of tickle-up economics. So far the all the plans of Bush and his Administration to FIX the economic has had the same results as fixing your pet. It is no longer productive.

As a hard-working American Taxpayer I am willing to except the consequences of no BAILOUT.

This is an UNLIMITED bailout. It will buy $trillions of debt $700bn at a time until it has all been sold to the tax payers. They should demand bank equity in return for bailout money.
NATIONALIZE the banks.

PEOPLe: We are not responsible for this miserable financial situation WE find our selves in but all those lousy partisan cocktail sipping free ride politicians on both sides of the Isle are. I'm sick of these greedy self serving morons being more concerned with their own personal power than they are with us, the people they are sworn to protect and serve. Before my youngest grand children start kindergarten they will owe the Gov $2500 if this $700.000,000 bill passes. You fools in Washington get to work or get the hell out!! That goes for Bush, and Pelosi right on down to the local Governments. "YOU FOOLS ARE HERE TO SERVE" GET IT!!! Americans after this election it is our duty to scrutenize who ever is in power and make damm sure they are looking out for us. NO MORE career polaticians sucking off the public. YES I'M PISSED!! LOCK AND LOAD

PEOPLe: We are not responsible for this miserable financial situation WE find our selves in but all those lousy partisan cocktail sipping free ride politicians on both sides of the Isle are. I'm sick of these greedy self serving morons being more concerned with their own personal power than they are with us, the people they are sworn to protect and serve. Before my youngest grand children start kindergarten they will owe the Gov $2500 if this $700.000,000 bill passes. You fools in Washington get to work or get the hell out!! That goes for Bush, and Pelosi right on down to the local Governments. "YOU FOOLS ARE HERE TO SERVE" GET IT!!! Americans after this election it is our duty to scrutenize who ever is in power and make damm sure they are looking out for us. NO MORE career polaticians sucking off the public. YES I'M PISSED!! LOCK AND LOAD

I keep hearing from lawmakers and economists that depositors of all financial institutions shouldn't worry about their assets as banks are insured for up to $100,000 per account by the FDIC. My question is: Who is the FDIC, who's running it, where do they get all that money and who the hell is insuring them (AIG)?

LonghornMama: That's the spirit!!!