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New financial world dawns today

By Jim Wooten | Monday, July 14, 2008, 08:19 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The morning’s headline are likely to make this a rough day on Wall Street: “Feds will offer lifeline to 2 mortgage giants.” The huge Bear Stearns financial services firm essentially disappeared in a single weekend. Can Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be next?

Yes.

Will they? Probably not. But hang on for the ride. The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury will act, as the feds did with Bear Stearns, to prevent a collapse of the function Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac performed. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that Congress will be asked on an expedited basis to provide additional credit to each company beyond the $2.5 billion each has now. The two hold or guarantee about half of the $12 trillion in U.S. mortgages.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a central role in our housing finance system and must continue to do so in their current form as shareholder-owned companies,” he said.

Maybe. It certainly is desirable that both continue as shareholder-owned, but with far greater federal oversight and regulation. Ordinarily I’m not one to urge more regulation. But here it’s clearly warranted.

Both are private corporations but they operated as high-flyers because investors commonly believe that, as government-sponsored companies, the feds will step in to bail them out in the event of financial distress. Indeed that’s happened. As taxpayers we’re trapped.

Lenders poured money out the door fueling a speculative real estate market. The result was that standards tanked. People who never should have been borrowing, who could not afford the homes they bought or who just flat lied about their ability to repay got loans. No hard questions.

The media has focused attention on “subprime” loans because it’s easy to compare interest rates and argue that some poor soul is the victim of “predatory lenders.” That was, as they say, the tip of the iceberg.

The real problem was that there was no accountability anywhere at any level. The front-line brokers could cut corners because they got the commissions and vanished. Lenders weren’t all that concerned because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would take the loans. Fannie and Freddie packaged them up as securities and passed them on to investors who believed that the pool was large enough to cover a few bad loans and, besides, the feds would come to the rescue if need be. They all got fees and commissions and passed junk down the line.

The bet here is that the market’s about to finish off its policing responsibilities. The collapse of Fannie and Freddie is unthinkable and the feds can’t — and won’t — allow it to happen. The role the two perform is a vital one. Some private-sector entities have to perform it — with strict oversight and capital requirements, more competition and a full understanding by the companies, as they evolve in the marketplace, that there’s no promise, real or implied, that taxpayers will bail out the private sector’s financial recklessness.

We’re stuck today. The feds have no alternative but to act, as they did with Bear Stearns, to prevent panic. But tomorrow is another day.

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Comments

By Republican World

July 14, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

Ain’t it great?!

(Aw, quit yer whining! Need a job? Join the war, sissy!)

By GOPs got to go

July 14, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

It sounds as if the non-recession is starting to resemble a non-depression. All the fat cats got fatter and then ran for the hills. “Cut and ran” to paraphrase an over used expression. Everyone was living high on the horse and making money hand over fist, usually knowing full well the standards were not being adhered to. Banks, investors, mortgage brokers, buyers, realtors, closing attorneys all probably knowing it was fiscally unsound but wanting theirs before the bubble burst. It all comes back to if you think you “might” be able to afford it, you probably can’t.

Step away form the credit cards America. Your self esteem is not related to your personal belongings. Become a “Dead Beat” to the credit card companies. Pay off the balance at the end of the month. If you really want something, do what your grandparents did, SAVE for it and pay cash.

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. FNMA and FHLMC present odd problems for our leftist brothers. First, from a conservative view, FNMA and FHLMC serve a useful purpose in our normally capitalist market, in that they make “liquid” the normally illiquid long-term mortgage loans. Using the illusion of government backing, the quasi-governmental secondary lenders create securities based on the bundled repayment streams of mortgages, and sell those securities in the market place. Anyone can buy or sell the packages. By virtue of their near-monopoly on that secondary market, and seemingly unlimited lending abilities, the overseers of the mortgage giants have been able to structure for themselves massive “incentive” compensation agreements.

Unfortunately, FNMA - I don’t know if this is true of FHLMC, but I think it is - ran into an Enron-like accounting problem with FAS 133 and maybe a couple of other FASs, a gross overstatement of income that conveniently benefited the compensations of the top managers. But traditionally both FNMA and FHLMC are run by toadies of the democrats. Thus faced with the largest losses in the history of American business, the leftists will have to decide whether to attack their friends for their thefts, or whether to keep silent and let the conservatives do the heavy lifting. The issue for conservatives is whether the two mortgage repackagers perform any service that requires government backing.

Totally unrelated, we have fresh evidence of the lack of humor among our leftist whiners, in the reaction to the cover of the New Yorker. The cover is a clever portrait and aggregation of many of the “unpatriotic” internet stories about the Obama family, thus mocking the disseminators. Instead of lauding the pointed humor at the left-leaning New Yorker, for re-achieving the glory days of White and Thurber, the leftists are whining about the tastelessness of the cover. The whiners, coincidentally, include the Obama family. I now have grave doubts about his intellectual capacity. And I though Captain Queeg had anger issues!

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this

Gentle reminder to our leftist friends, do a Google for “Obama FNMA Johnson”

By GOPs got to go

July 14, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this

LOL,

BFKaJ you are a permanent resident of LaLa land. Spin that dradle, keep applying lip stick to the pig. Some how it all comes back to the “leftist commies”, it could NEVER have a thing to do with us capitalist making money whether you should really qualify for that loan or not. Remember Bush’s advice, Go Shop!!!!

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

For all our rightist friends google enron loophole!

By Redneck Convert

July 14, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this

Well, if its a real, real big bank the guvmint is suppose to help them out of a jam. If its a little guy that bought more house than he was suppose to, then the guvmint needs to stay out of it and let the guy sink like a boulder in quicksand.

Leastwise, that’s the way economics have been working.

Have a good day everybody.

By Dennis

July 14, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten writes of the various financial failures, “The real problem was that there was no accountability anywhere at any level.”

If I recall in most if not all of your right wing columns, Mr. Wooten, you have continually echoed the call that the financial markets ought to be free to operate as they want to, without a lot of regulation.

And now you think just maybe we ought to have tighter regulations and oversight?

Do I smell a pharasee?

Where is all of that financial independence you preach about?

You know; pulling one’s self up by one’s own hard work and one’s own bootstraps?

Not expecting to be bailed out by the government when things go wrong?

Whine, whine, whine.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By WFC

July 14, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

The current real estate fiasco is largely the result of social policy… and NOBLE social policy at that. The theory is simple: society will be much more stable if as many people as possible own homes rather than rent. True enough… but problems arose.

  • Back in the day, a prospective home buyer had to save up $10,000 or so of HIS OWN MONEY to get into a nice house. There was a strong correlation between the discipline required to save this much and that required to meet a mortgage payment. Lenders knew this. Then came the “no money down” deals and the rest is history. It’s tougher to walk away from a deal with $10,000 of YOUR OWN MONEY involved. Duh!

  • A bubble developed on the high end of the real estate market. People who could easily afford a $250,000 house were suddenly tempted to buy $750,000 “McMansions”, counting on a continuous double digit appreciation per year. They were too ignorant of economic history to realize that BUBBLES ALWAYS BURST! They were left holding the bag on a house nominally worth $750,000 that was actually worth maybe $550,000. They were asleep or hung-over that day in ECON 101 when the prof explained that ANYTHING’s value is only the amount a willing and capable buyer will pay. Duh!

  • Real estate markets are different from other markets. They are subject to different forces. To wit: if your company tells you that you must move to California, your choices are limited. I’m lucky—- I’m retired and can afford to stay in my current home forever. However, I want to move to Tybee Island, Ga. I’ll wait until the EXACTLY right time in the market to make the move. Not everyone has that luxury.

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this

Perhaps my argument was not clear to our leftist friends. I think FNMA and FHLMC should be allowed to fail, that the shareholders should be wiped out. I understand that would leave a lot of unsalaried and angry leftists roaming the streets, their natural environment, but it is a risk we need to take.

By AJC/DNC Management

July 14, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this

Good jobs dwindle- Some take work that’s not ideal-Gloom and Doom/DNC

What, shoveling sh!t?

By day, Devone Kelly is a hairdresser. At night, she dances nude under the stage name of “Caramel” because her hairdressing business has nose-dived.-Urinal/PMS

Aahhh, yes, no one is getting their hair cut anymore, I forgot about that.

So now thee Doom and Gloom would have us believe that this is thee very first time that women took off their clothes for money in Hotlanta.

Yeah, O.K.

~~~~~

Blah, blah, Restrictive voter ID law will be enforced at polls, a not-so-pretty picture of partisan bullying, blah, blah, blah-Queen Pinko, Doom and Gloom

~~~~~

New poverty criteria urged, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the federal government’s formula for determining who lives below the poverty line is outdated and should be replaced.-Urinal/DNC

Check it out, should this happen, the very next day thee Doom and Gloom will be whining and moaning about the number of poor increasing under the Bushie Administration.

Thought you’d get that one by me, didn’t ya?

~~~~~

Repeat after me: No matter how much it rains, thee government will never acknowledge the end of the drought because then they would have to lower the price of water.

Say again as necessary.

P.S. If the level at Lanier doesn’t rise after yesterday’s deluge, we should choke the klown operating the dam.

~~~~~

83 in Hotlanta in July.

Yeah, “climate change.”

Silly little libs.

~~~~~

Look at these scumbags:

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, along with members of a crew filming an Oliver Stone movie, were arrested during a bar fight Saturday morning, police said. The paper said they are part of the crew on an Oliver Stone film, “W,” about President George W. Bush.

A bunch of left wing derelicts whining and moaning about Bushie, maybe they should look into growing up first, no?

POS.

~~~~~

Among other things, beating a supposedly unbeatable Obama despite the lackluster qualities of the Republican nominee would be a testimony to the latent power of the conservative movement. And it’s hard not to smile when contemplating the Democrats’ probable reaction to another defeat.

After their bitter disappointment over the 2000 Gore-Bush showdown in Florida, and their rage over the “Swiftboating” of Kerry in 2004, Democrats would descend into a state of political apoplexy if the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy snookered them a third time.

You think “Bush Derangement Syndrome” is bad? John McCain might become the first president to face impeachment on Inauguration Day.

Just for this reason alone, the Repugs got my vote.

~~~~~

Der Fuehrer Obambi is going to speak at the Reichstag, the place made famous by Hitler and his kult rallies?

You’re kidding me, right?

~~~~~~

“As the Iraqi security forces get stronger and get better, then we will be able to continue drawing down our troops in the future,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in Fort Lewis, Washington State, on Tuesday. “And I think that this transition of control and of responsibility, primary responsibility for security is a process that’s already well under way and based on everything that I’m hearing will be able to continue.”

Can you say victory?

~~~~~

U.S. regulators are already hunting for traders who may have sought to illegally profit from the credit crisis by falsely stoking panics about the stability of companies including Bear Stearns Cos., which collapsed in March amid speculation that clients were pulling business.

Why, what sort of lowlife would stoke fears about thee economy (Hi, Urinal!)*

“The OTS has determined that the current institution, IndyMac Bank, is unlikely to be able to meet continued depositors’ demands in the normal course of business and is therefore in an unsafe and unsound condition. The immediate cause of the closing was a deposit run that began and continued after the public release of a June 26 letter to the OTS and the FDIC from Senator Charles Schumer of New York. The letter expressed concerns about IndyMac’s viability. In the following 11 business days, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion from their accounts.

Gosh, it’s almost like they want a bad economy, gee.

By Dennis

July 14, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

Hey, Mr. Wooten!

I was just reading some more about the bailout of Freddie and Fannie.

Guess what?!

It’s a right winger’s dream! The bailout has “no conditions”.

Fannie and Freddy are free to go and sin again.

That ought to set your little ole heart to palpitating enough to buy a round of drinks for everybody in your office!

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ingorant one to deny it.

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

Nine U.S. Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan Battle

By Peter

July 14, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this

Hey we have the Second Savings and Loan crises……..no wonder another Bush at the helm !

Gotta love the Republicans, all about deregulation……… let the industries plot their own course…….. then when industry fails………….Republicans step in with OUR TAX DOLLARS to save them !

More Waste by the Republicans…….. Big Government, Big Money, Big Deficit, and more Big WASTE !

By Hillbilly Deluxe

July 14, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

We have to bail out these firms yet the people who made all the commissions walk away with full pockets. I won’t be happy until some of these people receive 20-30 year sentences and serve every day; of course that ain’t never gonna happen.

I’m sure some would disagree but I see many paralells between today and the late 1920s. Hopefully I’m wrong about this but you never know.

By ron

July 14, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

Good morning all,I agree with BFKaJ.I think it all should be allowed to fail.If not,the next one will be worse. There will be a next one.

Several years back,when I saw house prices escalating out of control,I knew where it was all headed.We’re playing Monopoly with real money here,and most of us weren’t invited to the game.,We’re only invited to clean up the mess.We have to stop doing the cleaning for the mess makers and make them responsible.A formidable task.

By WFC

July 14, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

AJC/DNC: blah, blah, blah… I see that you are still at it! Get a real job!

By Peter

July 14, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

When is the New Yorker going to Show Bush and Bin Ladden together………all smiles and holding hands……..

It should be part of the Bush……..

“Witness Protection Programs for Terrorists” !

By Dusty

July 14, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this

Well, I never needed Fannie and Freddie but evidently a lot of people did. The same people that thought they could buy a minimansion on a maid’s pay? I would not be surprised at that or their politics. Now the companies that made so many shady mortgages possible have got to be HELPED.

Obama will add another ‘plank’ to his so-called endeavors by saying that anyone making less than two hundred thousand should have government furnished housing. The money to do this will be from “taxes from the rich and the oil companies”(not to mention every taxable citizen in the USA).

Then Demo Polls will say that thousands from Chicago, Philadelpia and New Orleans registered to vote because they “need and deserve” a new home.

Democratic activists, like Mrs. Godzie will proclaim the joy of socialism under Obambi, over & over & over.

But for smiles, jbmlaw reminds us of the new Time mag cover cartoon. It really hits the nail on the head. No wonder Obambi and Michelle are complaining. The truth hurts.

By AJC/DNC Management

July 14, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

Listen to this dimwit announce his plan for Iraq, the same exact plan Bushie has:

That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months.

Why, how amazing, it’s the same timetable the generals gave Bushie:

Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009.

But of course, since the people he is speaking directly to are a bunch of mouth breathing morons, Obambi can make this his idea:

Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government.

Either the guy is ignorant or he’s a liar.

The same POS that opposed the surge, now takes credit for getting the Iraqi government to stand up, a government THAT WOULDN’T EVEN EXIST IF THIS MAGGOT HAD GOTTEN HIS WAY .

What a real scumbag loser, taking credit for what our brave soldiers accomplished.

You libs can have this mofo.

By getalife whiners

July 14, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

Stop whining Jim and tow the party line as usual.

What is wrong with you?

Did you suddenly decide to be a lib?

Geez.

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this

WFC @10:10: is that what you stupid liberals pass off on “debate” on this blog, moron? Why don’t YOU get a job? Or, is being a troll on this blog and harassing Conservatives YOUR job as a paid AJC hackass? You don’t do a thing for this blog but bi-tch about what others post. You are a worthless nothing.

Wooten writes a great piece today as usual. The bottom line is that people got home loans who had no business getting home loans. In many states people are going 12 months or more behind in their payments and still holding on to their homes. Why? Because the financial companies don’t want to hassle with foreclosures. They are fed up with them.

But let’s not let Obama off the hook here. After all, it was a lot of Democrat constituents (the poor, the working class, blah blah) who got loans that are now defaulted anyway. So, along comes Mr. Barack Obama as a very serious presidential candidate (and for someone who can say a lot about nothing, that’s impressive - we must really be dumbing down as a nation). So, Wall Street is scared of Obama now. As well they should be. A communist is a communist is a marxist. Take from the successful and give it to the unsuccessful. So liberal:

Why Wall Street fears Obama http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/WhyWallStreetIsScaredOfObama.aspx

Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn’t been good for the market.

Without giving him a chance to explain himself in detail on the campaign trail or at the Democratic National Convention, they are voting with their shares by tossing financial, health insurance, manufacturing and high-dividend stocks into the ash can, and are growing skeptical about energy companies as well.

It’s just that Obama’s rhetoric on taxes and health care is scaring common wealthy people with large capital gains from investments made over the past decade, and a lot of them don’t want to wait around to see whether it’s just populist fluff that might be set aside once he takes office.

Plus, the Democrats who run Congress know that a weaker economy favors their nominee — and they are loath to pass banking or trade legislation now to improve the nation’s industrial standing over fears that it could backfire and give comfort to the Republicans. And finally, there is a well-founded anxiety that one-party rule in Washington for at least the next two years will bring about the sort of abuse of power that has gotten both parties into trouble over the past few decades.

This may sound cynical, but history shows that Wall Street prefers the political parties to split the White House and Congress because it tends to produce the sort of legislative gridlock that prevents costly, idealistic, social or fiscal experiments.

All politics aside, though, the crux of the investing classes’ beef with the Obama worldview is taxes — or, as critics prefer to call it, “wealth redistribution.”

As well they should be scared shtless.

All you successful Americans out there, be prepared to get your money the hell out of the US. I already know lots who are making plans now.

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

Speaking of taking credit where it is not due….

  • how about bush, mccain, et all trying to take credit for passing the new GI Bill*

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 10:39 AM | Link to this

COMMON WEALTHY PEOPLE????

ah, the smell of elitism in the morning

By ron

July 14, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

Dusty,my love,Sometimes it’s hard for me to decide wether to have my tax money finance the great unwashed’s housing,or have it go to replace the money stolen by the fat cats.

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

“how about bush, mccain, et all trying to take credit for passing the new GI Bill”

Mrs. Moron: you mean that one where Bushie dragged the Demrats back to the drawing board to get rid of those all-important pork fat GI issues such as extending unemployment benefits and building a new museum in Minnesota?

God you Demrats are stupid!

By AJC/DNC Management

July 14, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

Wait until the leftwing netkooks read this article and realize that Obambi has no intentions of ending the war, like they won’t be able to see through the BS, get ready for a huge pinko flameout, bwa.

And the Repugs are going to feast on this all the way up to election day:

The Bush administration is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September. One factor in the consideration is the pressing need for additional American troops in Afghanistan-7/12/08

So now that Obambi knows what Bushie would do, it’s time to make it HIS plan.

As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.7/14/08

Hey, maybe Obambi could hire Bushie to be his foreign policy adviser, you reckon?

By Peter

July 14, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

When is the New Yorker going to have a picture of Bush and a Garbage Truck on the cover………..

The line should say……

“Who is going to clean up the George Bush Mess?”

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

COMMON WEALTHY PEOPLE????

Hey Mrs. HOGzilla, this may come as a shock to you, but LARGE investors are comprised mostly of wealthy people - that makes them COMMON in that realm of the topic at hand.

Read much or just emotionalize through everything through those pretty pink(o) glasses you wear?

Stupid liberal.

By PoFo's other inbred mother

July 14, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this

Wooten is for More Government? Now it really is a world turned upside down.

What’s next, Phil Gramm suggesting that every American deserves healthcare, education, and jobs?

Wooten has become a ghost of his hardline conservative past….with one article!

Ghosts? Now I’m scared. Wooooooooooten. Woooooooooten.

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

“it’s hard for me to decide wether to have my tax money finance the great unwashed’s housing,or have it go to replace the money stolen by the fat cats.”

Well, “ron”, let me be of help to you: just offer up proof that those evil rich - or as you so eliquently put it as fat cats - stole your money illegally and get it back plus attorney’s fees. I’m sure the FTC, SEC, or a host of other “ethical” watchdog government groups would like to hear your beef, genius.

Let us know how it works out for you!

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

McMultiname @ 10:43

  • no, sir, I mean the GI bill that Bush and McCain stood against because they were afraid that it medd with retention.*

McMultiname @ 10:50

Common wealthy people…..still too ridiculous….with 95% of Americans making under $150 grand…..common….. too funny…

By findog

July 14, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this

Fiorina is one of the great minds that killed Lucent, 120,000 jobs, and Bell Labs.

As the head of the carrier equipment group she pushed the 20% over quarter sales increases to the point where the company was so deeply discounting the equipment the customers didn’t need that the glut from 1999 is still in warehouses.

Even better is they had to write into those contracts that the systems would be updated to current standards; and no Lucent loses money as the last of these are installed.

She bailed ship just prior to the complete collapse of Lucent to go HP and has never been held accountable for what she did.

Accountability, McCain’s got it but his surrogates are lacking greatly!

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this

Dear Peter @ 10:47, that would be usual leftist humorless editorializing, and whatever their limitations, the New Yorker people have style. Perhaps with an appropriate caption the picture would work. “The President delivers lunch to the leftists.”

By Peter

July 14, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

The second coming of the Savings and Loan crises………brought to you by yet ANOTHER BUSH !

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

McMultiname @ 10:43 “* no, sir, I mean the GI bill that Bush and McCain stood against because they were afraid that it medd with retention.*”

Hey HOGzilla, I see you didn’t address the PORK FAT comment on the original GI Bill that the GOP put a stop to and AGAIN, as stated, dragged the Demrats back to the table kicking and screaming. Gee, I wonder why that is?

Your name befits you - you have the cranial capacity of a big lizard. But then again, you are a liberal… hahaha. Good day oinker.

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

I notice that AJC (PAPER DELIVERY BOY) has now become a Po Fo(INBRED MOTHER)

How fitting!

By PoFo's Inbred Mother

July 14, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

“McMultiname @ 10:50” “Common wealthy people…..still too ridiculous….with 95% of Americans making under $150 grand…..common….. too funny…”

You can clearly see that dealing with a liberal lizard brain is a waste of time. This moron can’t comprehend that LARGE investors are of the common wealthy people which the MSN ARTICLE (note: not MY article) referenced. Also note that this pea sized cranial capacitative liberal didn’t address ANYTHING that article referred to other than three words: common wealthy people.

This is what stupid liberals do. Nitpick two or three words out of 1,500 and attempt to discredit the entire article based on that.

You are wasting your time with such wretched mindless liberalism.

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this

Karl in the Crimea — Rove, not Marx…..Karl Rove is roving the beaches of the Crimea, not the committee rooms of Congress. Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times reached the former White House Senior Svengali by cell phone in the Eastern European resort to ask for his reaction to the death of Tony Snow. Mr. Rove ignored a subpoena and failed to appear for testimony before a House Judiciary subcommittee. According to Rep. Linda Sánchez (D, CA-39), Mr. Rove’s lawyer, Robert D. Luskin (a partner in Patton Boggs LLP), “forgot” to tell committee staffers that his client had scheduled what Rep. Chris Cannon (R, UT-3) described as a “long-planned trip” abroad. The Crimea, on the Black Sea, is a famed tourist area, a peninsula that was part of the USSR. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the area, ancestral homeland of the Tatar people, has become an “autonomous republic” within Ukraine. This seems to be controversial, as some Ukrainians see the ”autonomous republic” status as the start of a separatist movement; others see it as a smoke screen for continued Russian interference in the peninsula, long a strategic naval asset. Ukraine does not have an extradition treaty with the US, according to the Congressional Research Service, and ”Contempt of Congress” may not be a crime in the Crimea. At least we don’t have to worry about Mr. Rove obtaining undue influence over the Crimean president — there isn’t one. The Head of State of Crimea is the President of Ukraine (Viktor Yushchenko).

REPEATED FOR EMPHASIS

Ukraine does not have an extradition treaty with the US, according to the Congressional Research Service

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

**McMultiname @ 11:02”

I note you did not address the very public remarks made by both McCain and Bush about why they did not support the new GI bill.

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

dirty harry @ 11:07

I think AJC Mgmnt is probably 80% of the wingnut posters here…..watch his language….id changes put tone, content and filth remain the same

he thinks if we think there are really tons of people who think the way he does…well… he thinks it makes some kind of a difference

By Peter

July 14, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

I think the New Yorker Cover and caption should be……..

“President delivers election for Obama” !

The failed policies of Bush…….

The Terrible Economy……..Rising Unemployment………… the War………. the Deficit………… the Housing Crises…….the Banking Crises…….The Price of Oil………The Katrina Failure…………FEMA trailers causing Cancer…………

Failure to get America’s #1 Enemy……. Bin Ladden…..

Finally ………the amazing shrinking in value US DOLLAR !

All brought to you by the Bush Administration………

By PoFo

July 14, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

Anyone get a load of miss venezuela last night? Who cares about Fannie Mae, when you got T and A like that in 1080p?

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this

This was the vote on the GI Bill!

Obama and Clinton voted YEA…and, McCain, well, he didn’t bother to show up!

The 75-22 vote also added billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to the $165 billion for the military operations overseas.

Now, why in the world would we want to pay for fighting wildfires, or helping the poor heat their homes?

SHRUG!!!

By getalife "whiners"

July 14, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this

Yes, the toon on the New Yorker is funny but the article shows the real o.

Again, a radical vs a tortured, mentally unstable kook.

We are on a roll of electing pathetic presidents with w being an alcoholic coke head bum to these two losers.

By Vidal Suisun

July 14, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this

You really PoFo, what is your one-best reccommendation for a federal program that would “solve” any “problem”?

By hillbilly ragger

July 14, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

BFKaJ @ 9.40, looks like Atrios agrees with you wholeheartedly.

Dogs and cats, living together…

*Actually, Fannie and Freddie can be allowed to fail. Their shareholders can eat sh!t, and they can be reconstituted as a wholesale federal entities. There are zero reasons that I can think of that we should have shareholder owned entities which “probably but not necessarily” are going to get a government bailout every time they need it.

Both short and long term we might think that having such creatures exist to be mortgage backstops is a good idea. I probably agree with that. But there is no reason for them to be publicly traded companies.*

By Get Real

July 14, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Free Market Capitalism at its best.

Republicans always want a free market until that market crashes, and then they want corporate welfare beacuse those companies that lied, cheated, and stole to make a buck just ‘can’t fail.’ This NEW bailout should have a provision that anyone found to have committed illegal activities will go before a jury of their peers. So let me get this straight, banks can be bailed out for their callous actions and shady bookkeeping with the tax money of the same people they swindled, but those people are on their own. Republicans: Gotta love ‘em.

By the way, Wooten is a flip flop.

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

dirty harry @ 11:07

MRS GODZILLA…He’s back. Now in the disguise of Vidal Suisun!

And, of all things writing to himself.

LOSER……

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

If anyone is really interested in the politically-connected history of FNMA, the WSJ has a link to its amusing articles over the years: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121599777668249845.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

WSJ articles:

• Fannie Mae Ugly 07/12/08 – Investors continued to flee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac almost as frantically as the political class tried to reassure everybody there was nothing to worry about.

• The Price of Fannie Mae 07/10/08 – It’s time Americans understood the price they could soon pay for the Beltway’s confidence game with these high-risk “government-sponsored enterprises.”

• Too Political to Fail 04/21/08 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t held to the same standards of accountability as everyone else.

• Fannie Mayhem 11/20/07 – Chuck Schumer is lucky Congress ignored his idea that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should ride to the rescue of the housing market.

• Fannie More 10/23/07 – Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer have come up with a proposal that would increase the risk to taxpayers from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• Fannie to the Rescue? 09/29/07 – Fannie and Freddie went up the Hill to fetch a pail of money.

• Freddie Krueger Mac 05/10/07 – Just when you think they’re defeated, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac arise in Congress to kill any attempt to clean up their dangerous habits.

• The Fannie Tax 04/12/07 – Democrat Barney Frank and the Bush Administration seem to have found common ground on new rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Naturally, there’s a catch.

• Memo to Fannie 06/14/06 – A joke in Washington these days goes like this: “What’s the difference between Enron and Fannie Mae? Answer: The guys at Enron have been convicted.”

• Freddie’s Friends on the Hill 04/27/06 – The Federal Election Commission sheds some light on how Freddie Mac rewards its friends.

• Fannie Mae’s House 10/25/05 – Every Congressional session can be counted on to produce its share of bad bills. But the “reform” bill for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is in a class of its own.

• Fannie’s Friends on the Hill 05/09/05 – Congress finally seemed ready to protect taxpayers from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then Republican Mike Oxley decided to ride to their rescue.

• Fannie Turns a Page 12/23/04 – Fannie Mae – a slick, semiprivate firm operating with the patronage of politicians – is the kind of institution one still expects to find in a country like France.

• Fannie the Centaur 12/17/04 – Understanding their half-man, half-beast nature is crucial to fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the wake of their recent financial scandals.

• Fannie Mae Liberals 10/14/04 – There were many moments of high entertainment during the House hearings on Fannie Mae’s creative accounting. But our favorite was the Mister Magoo performance given by Barney Frank (D., Massachusetts).

• Fannie Mae Enron? 10/04/04 – The company was cooking the books. Big time.

• Fannie Uncovered 09/23/04 – The housing-finance giant has been engaging in some accounting funny business.

• Fannie’s Risky Business 02/25/04 – Alan Greenspan puts his credibility behind the cause of reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• Christmas for Fannie Mae 12/23/03 – The Federal Reserve Board releases a new staff study about the impact of taxpayer subsidies for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• White House Fannie Pack 11/11/03 – White House chief economist N. Gregory Mankiw dares to tell the truth about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The mortgage giants were not amused, which means we’re getting somewhere.

• Fannie Takes the Hill 10/09/03 – When the House of Representatives can’t get even a modest regulatory bill out of committee, the dangers of Fannie Mae become clear in reality.

• Speaking Truth to Fannie 03/12/03 – The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis warns of a potential crisis arising from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• Fan and Fred Get the Business 02/19/03 – The year has not started auspiciously for the two mortgage-finance behemoths.

• Fannie Mae’s Risky Business 09/23/02 – We’ve been suggesting that Fannie Mae was exposed to too much interest-rate risk. All of a sudden investors seem to agree with us.

• Fannie Capitulates, Sort Of 07/15/02 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac end months of resistance, stonewalling and downright crankiness and agree to register their common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Fannie’s Inside Info 07/01/02 – Even in this post-Enron world, Fan and Fred do not provide as much information about these securities as private mortgage lenders do.

• Inside Fannie 03/19/02 – Fan and Fred don’t function like other companies. They’re allowed to pile up debt, implicitly guaranteed by taxpayers, without being held to even the minimum of corporate governance standards.

• Frantic Fannie 02/28/02 – Companies taking on so much risk and debt, and backed by taxpayers, ought to be more transparent in what they tell the world.

• Fannie Mae Enron? 02/20/02 – Fan and Fred look like poorly run hedge funds: lots of leverage and snarkily hedged risk. Does the word Enron ring any bells?

By Peter

July 14, 2008 11:42 AM | Link to this

SO McCain didn’t show up for the GI Bill vote………

Please remember down the road……he will FORGET he wasn’t there and say he supported the Bill !

Old Guy for President……… McLost !

By fearless fosdik

July 14, 2008 11:42 AM | Link to this

Phil Gramm/John McCain/George W. Bush Economics Alert: IndyMac Bank, a prolific mortgage specialist that helped fuel the housing boom, was seized Friday by federal regulators, in the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The collapse is expected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. between $4 billion and $8 billion, potentially wiping out more than 10% of the FDIC’s $53 billion deposit-insurance fund.

I understand later in the week George W. Bush will tour America to SURVEY the damage done by his presidency…

By PoFo

July 14, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

I’d federally mandate that all women look like miss venezuela. Otherwise we send them to Iraq. Period.

By hillbilly ragger

July 14, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this

Oops, sorry, wrong link to that liberal blogger who agrees with at least some of what BFKaJ posted. Here’s the real deal.

And getalife “whiners” @ 11.29, you actually read the NYer article? All 15,000 words? And you still think of him as a “radical?”

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

from the article:

“Perhaps the greatest misconception about Barack Obama is that he is some sort of anti-establishment revolutionary. Rather, every stage of his political career has been marked by an eagerness to accommodate himself to existing institutions rather than tear them down or replace them.”

The author doesn’t necessarily mean that as a compliment or a knock, just a statement of reality.

I don’t suppose maybe we could, at some point, start dealing with actual policy decisions and positions by Messrs. Obama and McCain, rather than yelling about how these folks are perceived? Maybe, sometime?

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this

JBMlaw…You list a slew of WSJ clips.

Did you stop to read them or just copy and paste?

Almost every one of these articles was 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 vintage!

Who controlled congress during that time span?

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

Dear Hillbilly @ 11:31, I am unfamiliar with Atrios, but we share at least a short-term conclusion. I perceive Atrios thinks the mortgage-packaging market ought to be a pure government agency, and of course I think it ought to be handled entirely by private companies. Thanks for the link, useful to know what other people think. Query, how does the “incorporation” of the FDIC differ in any meaningful way from FNMA or FHLMC?

By Soothsayer

July 14, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

[“…in my opinion, there never was a good War, or a bad Peace. What vast additions to the Conveniences and Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired, if the Money spent in Wars had been employed in Works of public utility!”

—-Benjamin Franklin, 1783 - quoted from a letter to Joseph Banks.](http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/biodiesel.html)

By jungleland

July 14, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

I don’t want my tax dollars going to bail out people who bought homes they could not pay for - I ALSO don’t want my tax dollars going to companies who sold loans to people who should not have qualified. Why am I forced to choose between two parties that want to TAKE MY MONEY and give it to people who made bad choices?

I saved, scraped,moved back in with my parrents for 6 months!, drove a 10 year old car and then put 20% down on my dream house. I made good decisions, why should this cost me?

By jm

July 14, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

I wonder why Mr. Wooten does not mention that sovereign wealth funds invest heavily in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Also, while Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae convert mortgages into securities, only a small percentage of their holdings were sub-prime mortgages. Most of their holdings were traditional mortgages (kind of like the one I assume Dusty has).

By dusty

July 14, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this

Well children…I’m off to lunch (I’m thinking of a double rack of ribs, garlic toast, baked beans, and a slab of chocolate cake.

Ohhhhh, Mr. Dusty is not going to be happy tonight when I come lumbering home!

Oh, well. He’s just going to have to suck it up.

See ya Later…Gator!

By hillbilly ragger

July 14, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

“Query, how does the “incorporation” of the FDIC differ in any meaningful way from FNMA or FHLMC?”

Heh. If I knew that, I’d probably be runnin’ one a’ them fancy-pants eekonomix blogs.

BTW, if Atrios isn’t hardcore-economic enough for you, ever checked out Calculated Risk, which has been covering the credit crisis for some time? I happen over there from time to time. Lotta good stuff, until my brain starts to hurt.

By hillbilly ragger

July 14, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

Well, Jungleland @ 11.55, I hear ya. And if you’ve figured out a way to have a functional government that never, ever has to bail out those who’ve made poor decisions, you let us know, ok?

Most of us must recognize that part of the cost of doing business in real life is to set aside a chunk to help others. Not all of those “others” are especially deserving.

Like you, I’ve always made what I thought were responsible decisions about debt to finance a home. I’ve never been behind on a payment, always coughed up at least 10% (twice I managed 20% or greater) for a down payment. Ticked me off to no end to see credit being extended to some, for no other reason than a presumption that the property values would continue to leap at historically unprecedented rates.

I’m not saying there’s no place for the tough-love approach, just that it’s unrealistic to think you won’t be “bailing out” people in all kinds of unsavory ways for as long as you’re likely to earn a living.

And don’t be so sure you’ll never need to be bailed out, yourself. That’s kinda the way it works.

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 12:23 PM | Link to this

By time for the cyber lynching of aborted foreskin truth: SNIGGER

July 14, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this

PoFo’s inbred mammy…

NEWSPAPER DELIVERY BOY…I thought we discussed your…uh, shall we say mental condition!

Falling off your bicycle, and smacking your head on the pavement is not condusive to your mental health!

Now, like a good boy put your training wheels back on, and in a day or two of not tipping over you’ll remember who you really are!

By BFKaJ

July 14, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this

Dear Dirty @ 11:52, I believe I have read every article I mentioned in the link, but I suppose it is theoretically possible I missed a couple. My subscription to WSJ did not commence last week. Surely my arguments on FNMA over the past couple of years reveal the biases planted in my mind by WSJ?

Dear jm @ 12:02, great argument on the substance, but don’t fault Mr. Wooten. He is on our side of this one.

By Mrs. Godzilla

July 14, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

Despite Aversion To Golfing During The War, Bush Will Attend A McCain Golf Fundraiser Hosted By His Parents….

* Guess “I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal” was just another Bush lie*

By dirty harry

July 14, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Mr. pompous lawman…I don’t give a RATs A** when you subscription commenced.

I was merely pointing out the fact that most of the time this debacle was coming to a head. REPUBLICANS controlled the house, the senate and the presidency.

By Dusty

July 14, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

Well, somebody seems to be fascinated with my ID. ID Thief@12:07

Some people may think that is complimentary but FROM A BUG EYED LIB ..phweee! And obviously a fat, dumb one at that. Maybe all of them are like that.

Mrs. Godsy covers her ‘lack of’ with ‘cut’n’paste’. Other libs plain out lie and others act like Bush is running for reelction. The Obama supporters want us to change to an inexperienced smooth talking anti war medicine man with a Napoleon complex already showing. What a gang!!

The biggest laugh of all is the socalled distasteful cartoon of Obama on the cover of Time. The joke is..after years of ugly lampoons of George W. Bush by LUCKOVICH, these libs who love Lucko, want to take offense at ONE cartoon reflecting Ob