Obama's Love Affair with Fannie Mae

by George Dienhart

Oh, that wacky Obama. The mainstream media keeps propagating the story that he is the candidate that can best handle the economy. As it turns out, Obama is plugged directly into the Freddie Mac/ Fannie Mae fiasco. He had to be- the 2 organizations made him a top target for political donations. All week analysts have been pointing fingers at who is to blame for the current economic situation. I would like to raise a different question in this article. At what cost?

For $105,849.00 the Freddie/Fannie combo bought themselves a United States Senator. His Name was Barrack Obama. Sure, he had friends that were also involved. They had names like Clinton, Dodd, Kanjorski and Kerry. These five Democrats took in over a half million dollars, but what was the real cost? So far, we are at about 500 billion dollars:

by George Dienhart

Oh, that wacky Obama. The mainstream media keeps propagating the story that he is the candidate that can best handle the economy. As it turns out, Obama is plugged directly into the Freddie Mac/ Fannie Mae fiasco. He had to be- the 2 organizations made him a top target for political donations. All week analysts have been pointing fingers at who is to blame for the current economic situation. I would like to raise a different question in this article. At what cost?

For $105,849.00 the Freddie/Fannie combo bought themselves a United States Senator. His Name was Barrack Obama. Sure, he had friends that were also involved. They had names like Clinton, Dodd, Kanjorski and Kerry. These five Democrats took in over a half million dollars, but what was the real cost? So far, we are at about 500 billion dollars:

For $105,849.00 the Freddie/Fannie combo bought themselves a United States Senator. His Name was Barrack Obama. Sure, he had friends that were also involved. They had names like Clinton, Dodd, Kanjorski and Kerry. These five Democrats took in over a half million dollars, but what was the real cost? So far, we are at about 500 billion dollars:

• The Stimulus Package: $150 Billion
• Bear Stearns:  29 Billion
• Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac:  $200 Billion
• Miscellaneous Banks: 20 Billion
• AIG: $85 Billion

The old adage is a billion here, a billion there and pretty soon we are talking about real money. 500 billion dollars is real money. Conventional wisdom says it's everyone’s fault. Is it? The Dem’s say this is what happens when evil Republicans deregulate everything. The same evil Republicans ignored the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until they became catastrophic. This statement is plain wrong- it is a deliberate lie meant to prop up their sagging presidential candidate. Way back in 2003 the New York Times reported that the Bush administration proposed a new federal agency to oversee both companies. The piece, by Frank Luntz, stated, "The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business." Did you catch that? The responsibility for setting the capital reserve requirements belonged to Congress. The Republicans foresaw this mess 5 years ago and tried to take action to correct the problems.

The next question would be "What happened?" The short answer is Obama, Clinton, Dodd, Kanjorski and Kerry. These powerful Washington insiders acted to protect their own interests- and the interests of a major campaign contributor. The Bush plan never came to be. There was no reform. How does this tie in  with Sen. Obama? Michael van der Galien in the Netherlands broke the story. From the PoliGazette: "For days now Barack Obama told voters he was the one who predicted the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and who was working in the Senate to try to get lawmakers to agree to a plan that would let the federal government regulate the activities of both investment giants. Obama, the narrative sold by the Obama campaign goes, stood at the forefront; he was one of the leaders, on bills that would force the companies and others like it to behave responsible. There is just one problem with Obama’s story; it’s fiction. Never did the Democratic nominee lead on this issue, or something related to it. Never did he attempt to hold these companies responsible and to regulate them. For days now Barack Obama told voters he was the one who predicted the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and who was working in the Senate to try to get lawmakers to agree to a plan that would let the federal government regulate the activities of both investment giants. Obama, the narrative sold by the Obama campaign goes, stood at the forefront, he was one of the leaders, on bills that would force the companies and others like it to behave responsible. There’s just one problem with Obama’s story; it’s fiction. Never did the Democratic nominee lead on this issue, or something related to it. Never did he attempt to hold these companies responsible and to regulate them."

Obama is trying to jump out in front of this issue, utilizing lies about his past. Instead of letting the press obsess over Gov. Palin’s innocuous emails- lets get the story of Sen. Obama's affair with Fannie Mae out front and center. Call local radio and newspapers today. Demand to learn the truth.try to get lawmakers to agree to a plan that would let the federal government regulate the activities of both investment giants. Obama, the narrative sold by the Obama campaign goes, stood at the forefront, he was one of the leaders, on bills that would force the companies and others like it to behave responsible. There’s just one problem with Obama’s story; it’s fiction. Never did the Democratic nominee lead on this issue, or something related to it. Never did he attempt to hold these companies responsible and to regulate them."

Obama is trying to jump out in front of this issue, utilizing lies about his past. Instead of letting the press obsess over Gov. Palin’s innocuous emails- lets get the story of Sen. Obama's affair with Fannie Mae out front and center. Call local radio and newspapers today. Demand to learn the truth.

Comments

[Will NYC]

Keating 5, Keating 5 Keating 5 Keating 5

McCain has shown time and time again when the chips are down he sides with corporations against those pesky regulations and middle class folk who whine...

the current REPUBLICAN administration has a HUGE love affair with ALL big business... So does McCain... 1 Trillion just got added to out national dept of 11 Trillian.

PS.. Obama's tax cut pays for itself, McCain's tax plan does not pay for itself it adds to deficit...

need me to re-provide a CHART to show this clearly...

[george dienhart]

Yes will, I do. Obamas extra 500 billion in spending, on top of raising the taxes on every business in the nation (Who's going to pay for that- you think maybe the consumer?) is the worst fiscal policy ever proposed.

Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the "Family" and "Conscience" of Fannie Mae

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0

[Pete Speer]

Will -- The Senate ethics committee exonerated McCain on the Keating matter.

Period.

[Will from NYC]

He was found not have broken any laws... but the GOP congress at the time admonished him on record for involving himself and not being impartial...

PS... we spend 11-15 billion a month in Iraq alone... McCain wants to keep that going Obama wants to shut it down... 15 x 12 = 180 billion a year NOT including the private contractors...

folks can blah blah about fiscal prudence all they want the but current REPUBLICAN administration spent and rubber stamped like a whore in heat...
I remember this minor president name Clinton who left the country with a surplus and that was with a Republican congress... hmmmm.

tax chart:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

[Will from NYC]

PS... McCain current campaign manager was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae for the past 10 years..

all in all McCain has 19 that's right 19 former Fannie Mae execs in his campaign right now...

once again the Maverick is bs'ing his supporters.

[Mark Rhoads]

Will from NYC. Did you pull that number "19" out of the air? If not, give us the names please and the dates they worked for Fannie Mae and what do you mean when you say "in his campaign right now." Obama has Franklin Raines so high up he was vetting Biden for VP and the accounting scandal happened on Raines' watch and Obama is one of the top recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign donations.

I will try to be polite here but are you just plain nuts? What do you mean the Obama tax cut "pays for itself?" Government does not have a single dime that is does not first confiscate from you in at least three ways--direct taxes, indirect taxes through deficit financing and "monetization of the money supply, and more taxes on businesses who pass that cost on to you as the consumer. Will, wake up and get a grip on reality, neither Obama nor McCain can give you a penny unless you first give it to Uncle Sam. Then, if your a very good boy next Christmas, Uncle Barack might let you keep some of your own money after he charges you some overhead for paperwork. Ronald Reagan once said the US was spending money like drunken sailors--but that was unfair to the drunken sailors because at least they were spending their own money.

[Will from NYC]

the kind of angst you feel about government spending and size?? you need to vote for Barr.. he's the fiscal conservative in this horse race.

Obama seeks to spend on infrastructure, middle class tax cuts, small business tax cuts (business that net < 250,000 a year), inside the US basically. Concentrate any military spending in Afghanistan and Pakistan border.

McCain seeks to spend giving tax cuts to all with emphasis in the upper income folks and larger business because of the theory of trickle down. Wants to stay in Iraq and engage in other places as well..not sure about Afghanistan because he rarely mentions that country directly.

Then of course the social issues, woman's rights, healthcare, abortion ,gay union to name a few.

Both candidates intend to spend more but in differing ways... take your pick.. or vote outside of these 2...

[Hascat]

George:

Bush is asking the treasury for $700 billion to cover bad debt in the financial markets. If you want to start pointing fingers at anyone for being fiscally irresponsible, maybe you should start with him. He did, after all, nearly double our national debt during his time in office, and drove down the value of our currency at an impressive rate.

[Henry]

I'm glad to see Democrats read Illinois Review too. They may learn that all the problems we face today were the creation of their party. "Fannie Mae" was created to end the mortgage forclosures that peaked years before. It has since become the place to park loyal Democrats to give them the big free-market bonuses they could never earn in in government or real life. Fannie Mae is a quasi-government entity, a "GSE" or government sponsored entity. Go to the National Review on line to see Byron's story about Franklin Raines' $90 million in bonuses.

The real culprit in this mess is the Federal Reserve System for debasing the dollar. That is something it has been doing since President Woodrow Wilson signed it into life in 1913, to stop the Panic of 07. A falling dollar is inflation, which pushes up the nominal or market price of your house. Of course, real estate taxes and gasoline go up faster. Lenders can make mortgages; because no matter how bad a credit the owner might have been, the house is going up and can be refinanced before the chickens come home to roost. Well, they did.

I'm not so sure the government is the one to fix this, since it isn't as resourceful as the people in a free market, but Greenspan and Bernanke left us with all the costs and problems in our accounts, not theirs. We never would have come to this point without the funny-money policy of the Democrats, who have been the largest beneficary of the $170 million I read has been donated to politicans by FNM over the last ten years.

[Will from NYC]

As always the Bush admin has snuck something into the bail out legislation:

Yet a critical - and radical - component of this bailout package has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that's so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one's hair on fire. It reads, in its entirety:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

In short, the so-called "mother of all bailouts," which will transfer $700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the distressed assets of several failed financial institutions, will be conducted in a manner unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the People's duly sworn representatives. All decision-making power will be consolidated into the Executive Branch - who, we remind you, will have the incentive to act upon this privilege as quickly as possible, before they leave office. The measure will run up the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recouping the outlay, and no fundamental means of holding those who fail to do so accountable.

[Kiki from Florida]

We better start looking a little closer at the dogs Obama has pulling his sled. Franklin D. Raines, former CEO of FNMA, cooked the books to read Fannie had a 6.9 Billion profit; his salary and bonus are based on profit folks. It is public information that the Bush administration warned several time of Fannie and Freddie; they were then accused by several Dem’s of "interfering with homeownership for the underprivileged". Now think about that last statement people. I can tell you first hand that Fannie and Freddie had good people; good underwriting criteria" and had ample reserves in the 1980's and part of the 1990's. However Special interest groups like the CBC thought Fannie was directly responsible for minorities not owning homes. In 2003 The Bush Administration tried to pass a bill for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie; the Dem’s ALL OF THEM NAYED it and again accused the Bush Administration "trying to keep the poor and underprivileged from homeownership". John McCain also tried to get more REGULATION on these two huge entities but it was a DEM house and they would not listen. Probably because they were in the $$$$ and did not want to rock their greedy boat.

I loved Obama for about two weeks, until I looked up a few things and reviewed his record, Senate record etc. I hate the man now. I can't believe he is allowed to run for President of the United States of America. And I can’t believe our citizens are so gullible to think that he is for “change’. Obama is as sleazy as it gets; a crook, snake and a prop for the propaganda that, if he gets elected, will be running this country and straight in the ground. Just like FNMA and FHLMC.