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Barney Frank Hypocrisy Hits New Record After Saying Republicans Ought To Be Embarrassed About Fannie And Freddie
The Mass legislator totally loses it after penning yet another angry letter (he is good at that; being unconflicted and actually passing sensible and Wall Street influence-free laws, not so much) in which he says that the $6 trillion extra toxic debt on the US Treasury's books from the GSEs (which the democrats refuse to recognize) is really the republicans' fault. The fact that Barney was instrumental to creating the parabolic phase of the housing bubble with his idiotic statements in 2005 that there is "no bubble", and that his commission currently refuses to deal with issues such as the GSEs and a repeat of the housing bubble is completely absent from his letter.
Barney's House Committee On Financial Services had the audacity to blast out the following letter a few minutes ago (an act beyond idiotic not because he is necessarily wrong, but because for someone living in a massively overpriced glass house, Frank should be the last person to throw stones). One wonders when Barney Frank's advice will filter through to those of his colleagues who still see the GSE debt (all $6 trillion of it) as being somewhere in no man's land: you know not really on the US books, so we can still pretend our debt to GDP is actually less than 150%.
House Republicans Ought to be Embarrassed about their Record on Fannie and Freddie
Failure is the only word to describe the House Republicans’ record on the GSEsWashington, DC — Rep. Spencer Bachus should know better. In a long op-ed in Politico, the Alabama Republican talks at length about the supposed Democratic failure to reform the GSEs, but apparently President Bush’s “ownership society” doesn’t apply to Republicans taking responsibility for their own failures. The Republican record on Fannie and Freddie is clear and embarrassing:
• From 1995 to 2006 when the Republicans were in charge of Congress no bill to reform the GSEs passed Congress.
• Republicans only held one vote in the House to regulate the GSEs—and the bill was opposed by President Bush.
• Republicans in Congress did nothing when President Bush pushed Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing goals to unsustainable levels.
• While in the majority, Republicans never passed legislation to restrict subprime lending. Rep. Bachus actually once believed in restricting subprime lending, even negotiating and compromising with Democrats in 2007, but he did not support the 2009 effort.By contrast, House Democrats quickly spearheaded efforts to reform Fannie and Freddie after taking over the majority in 2007:
• After only three months in the majority, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee produced a tough GSE reform bill that the Bush administration supported. The bill passed the House within five months of Democrats taking control. Rep. Bachus voted against the bill.
• House Democrats also pushed to include Fannie and Freddie reform in the 2008 stimulus bill, but their efforts were rejected by the Bush Administration. The GSE reform bill stalled in the Senate due to the narrow partisan divide but ultimately passed in July 2008.Even prior to taking the majority, Democrats pushed for reform of Fannie and Freddie:
• In 2004, Democrats, while in the minority, objected to President Bush pushing Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing goals. [“Fannie, Freddie to Suffer under New Rule, Frank Says,” Bloomberg, June 17, 2004]
• In 2005, House Democrats worked with then-Financial Services Committee Chairman Mike Oxley to pass the only Fannie and Freddie reform bill to pass the House. In fact, every Democrat voted for the bill in committee. Although some Democrats objected to unilateral changes when the bill reached the floor, the bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
• Senate Democrats then offered the Oxley bill in the Senate. However, the bill died because the Bush administration and Senate Republicans were opposed.
Democrats initiated and led the fight on mortgage reform and anti-predatory lending:• With Mel Watt and Brad Miller taking the lead starting in 2004, House Democrats pressed Republicans to adopt subprime lending rules in light of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s refusal to use the HOEPA authority he had been given in 1994.
• The House of Representatives in 2007, and again in 2009, passed tough measures designed to protect consumers from predatory lenders and prohibit the type of “liar loans” that were so prevalent in the years leading up to President Bush’s homeownership failures.
• After House Democrats began working on anti-predatory lending legislation, the Federal Reserve in 2007 finally issued rules to regulate subprime lending pursuant to the 1994 Home Owners Equity Protection Act.Democrats led the Fight for More Affordable Rental Housing:
• Fought for a greater balance between affordable rental housing and homeownership, so people are not pushed into homeownership because Republican federal policy says this is the only way to have a decent place to live.
But Rep. Bachus apparently longs for the good old days when Republicans unabashedly pushed homeownership whether people could afford it or not. Their record is clear.
President Bush on pressuring Fannie and Freddie:
• “And so, therefore, I've called -- yesterday, I called upon the private sector to help us and help the home buyers. We need more capital in the private markets for first-time, low-income buyers. And I'm proud to report that Fannie Mae has heard the call and, as I understand, it's about $440 billion over a period of time. They've used their influence to create that much capital available for the type of home buyer we're talking about here. It's in their charter; it now needs to be implemented. Freddie Mac is interested in helping. I appreciate both of those agencies providing the underpinnings of good capital.” [President Bush, June 18, 2002]
Can’t afford the down payment? President Bush: “We can deal with that.”• “People take a look at the down payment, they say that's too high, I'm not buying. They may have the desire to buy, but they don't have the wherewithal to handle the down payment. We can deal with that. And so I've asked Congress to fully fund an American Dream down payment fund which will help a low-income family to qualify to buy, to buy.” [President Bush, June 18, 2002]
Even Bush appointees were concerned about the President’s agenda:
• In December 2005, [FHA Commissioner] Mr. Montgomery drafted a memo and brought it to the White House. “I don’t think this is what the president had in mind here,” he recalled telling Ryan Streeter, then the president’s chief housing policy analyst. It was an opportunity to address the risky subprime lending practices head on. But that was never seriously discussed. More senior aides, like Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s chief political strategist, were wary of overly regulating an industry that, Mr. Rove said in an interview, provided “a valuable service to people who could not otherwise get credit.” While he had some concerns about the industry’s practices, he said, “it did provide an opportunity for people, a lot of whom are still in their houses today.” [NY Times, December 20, 2008]
Not much to be said here. This clip below from 2005 starring Barney summarizes pretty much all you need to know.
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He's from Mass!!
But his accent is clearly more Roman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_dWMy47Bmk
That fat mofo gave birth to FNM/FRE in their current form, and then ate the placenta!
December 16, 2003. The American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act authorizes up to $200 million annually for fiscal years 2004 - 2007.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/addi/
HOME is the largest Federal block grant to State and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households. Each year it allocates approximately $2 billion among the States and hundreds of localities nationwide. The program was designed to reinforce several important values and principles of community development:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/
Which was part of: HOME is authorized under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, as amended. Program regulations are at 24 CFR Part 92.
Which Daddy Bush pushed thru...
Now, after pumping all of these dollars in... Bush cut funding, never mine the shit head idiot dems v. reps...
When Bush pumped the housing market, with the magic, un-written Federal backstop clause and then cut the funding... all of that 50 to 1 leverage took on a new sheen... 50 to 1 leverage for an ongoing Federal Program, or as I would call it... The big boys feeding from the public trough of tax dollars... was safe, safe enough that how many absolute return funds bought into the rated, magic Federal funded and back stopped debt machine / vehicles? LOTS!
But, when the Federal monies where cut... and the magic backstop was found to be a lie... the domino's fell, one after another... Goldman, being smarter than the rest bought shorts and insurance? how many different ways did Goldman profit from the failure, per deal... in the plainest of terms... for every one dollar in failed debt Goldman earned $2 dollars? Short + Swaps? I am guessing there just for the fun of it... sorry.
But the failure was brought on by Bush pumping and then de-stablizing the Federal dollars (really tax payer dollars) that where assumed to be safe by Bear, Lehman and so on... Don't get me wrong, Barney is an idiot Lobby whore just like Bush... but there is no difference between Barney, Bush, Obama, Clinton and so on... they are all moved by Lobby dollars... the song and dance is strictly for the public's entertainment.
Obama is Bush part duex.. he is not a commie, he has taken every Bush program and ran with it... not run from it. Dont get caught up in the public spin machine.
I offer... http://www.opensecrets.org/ see who owns your favorite representatives and then for fun look at the dem's side who should be against the reps push... and see how the dollars move the votes, not the party affiliations.
John Mcsame spent all of a whole 10 minutes yesterday grilling Goldman, and said he was very disapointed in Goldmans behavior... he spoke less that the girl in Levin's ear...
Top Industries John McCain http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00006424&type=IFinance, Insurance & Real Estate
$33,457,679
$745,772
$32,711,907
Lawyers & Lobbyists
$13,170,368
$307,508
$12,862,860
Other
$42,122,454
$8,400
$42,114,054
John McSame spent 100 times less times talking about how we all have been screwed by Goldman for around 10 times more moeny than the other comittee members where Bribbed... Oops, I mean Lobbied with.
There is no difference between the two parties, the lobby has bought and paid for all the whores inside the beltway, dont think becuse of the cute sound bite you like hearing that the two parties are any different.
...sadly, you are right about the 2-party system. It's like two teams of gangsters fighting for the same turf. Each is so busy shooting at the other, they forget the kiddies are in the line of fire. The kiddies is us.
Barney still gets a gold medal for mindless skulldrudgery. Pretty good finish considering the competition.
Obama most certainly is a commie... and fascist... and elitist... and new-world-order-thug... and so forth. What you demonstrate is that so were the Bushes, and Clinton, and Johnson, and Reagan, and every president back to Eisenhower or [arguably] Kennedy.
A pox on both their houses. Barney, please go fall on a knife.
2+2=5
Why?
Because Barney Frank said so.
I think when he mentions people falling behind on their rent, he actually was thinking of a rent boys behind.
The damage control is spreading as quickly as the ECU contagion.
Barney is marching to the gulag all by himself. Amazing!
To add, he is a masochist. But what should we expect!? [Insert joke here].
+10000000000000000000000.....0000000000000
Doublespeak, here is the truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&playnext_from=TL&videos=SVxw4...
Senility. Or drool-monkey idiocy.
Take your pick - it's your government at work, either way.
Alas, the Democrat in Chief ("O") was instrumental in preventing 2005 reform of the GSE's.
Also "As a senator, he was the third largest recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, behind only Sens. Chris Dodd and John Kerry".
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704671904575193910683111250.html
Bush increased the spending beyond Clinton's by 100% plus into the programs... the little, fat, gay guy lacked the horsepower... The Conservative Republican's... pumped the programs with 100% beyond the Liberal Democrats alloted... But the sound bites seem to have over taken your ability to research and comprehend the facts.
December 16, 2003. The American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act authorizes up to $200 million annually for fiscal years 2004 - 2007.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/addi/
HOME is the largest Federal block grant to State and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households. Each year it allocates approximately $2 billion among the States and hundreds of localities nationwide. The program was designed to reinforce several important values and principles of community development:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/
Which was part of: HOME is authorized under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, as amended. Program regulations are at 24 CFR Part 92.
Which Daddy Bush pushed thru...
The real shame is many Amerikans are dumb enough to fall for Bawney's doublespeak.
YEAH!
By the way.. Katla sends her warmest sympathies.. to Greece & Europe
http://mfc.elmberg.net/files/images/iceland_katla_2010-04-29.jpg
now there go the green shoots getting dusty. Only 2 things can grow under those conditions ....misery and egos
Executing the single play of the Democratic playbook. Blame Bush and Republicans with the MSM parroting these fools.
BF, back under the rock that you slimes out from....
I thoroughly enjoy ZH...there's a bazooka for every idiot, regardless of party, race, creed, color, religion, and economic philosophy.
Got a question for you money managers out there. Do you have a (legal) fiduciary responsibility to your clients? Like an attorney or physician? If so, would this not apply to GS?
Has Barney been reminded he once said this??? IS that foot in his mouth I see? He wishes is was a foot (long).......he has never had anything that big.
He should be prosecuted criminally for his support of the GSEs. Not only did he ignore the Inspector General report from back around 2001-2 that said they were basing their financial statements on astrology charts, but he was taking it up the pooper from the CEO. This is insane!
If people are that stupid to believe this baffoon, I've got nothing for them.
Younger readers may not know that Congressman Frank first came to national attention when it was revealed that a gay whorehouse was operating out of his capital hill apartment.
His roommate took the fall. Barney didn't know there was a GAY WHOREHOUSE operating out of his own damned apartment. Well, he's a busy guy, and why would you notice such a thing. But if he were a Republican......?
No matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up.
If he were a Republican he would be ousted simply for being gay.
Come on now, Lindsey Gramham was just outed and he is still a republican.
what ever happened to the nice fella who played bumper shoes with a cop in a public airport bathroom> Married , he said hed resign, didnt.
Liars thiefs and perverts lead us on into the future promising hope.LOL
Hope they make money, hope they get reelected, hope they dont get caught. Thats the hope we get from todays ?representatives?
Say whaa?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_Cabin_Republicans
http://www.mediaite.com/online/homophobic-cpac-speaker-booed-off-the-stage/
http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/media/San-Diego-Magazine/April-2007/Carl-DeMaio/
In fairness, nearly every Congressman operates a whorehouse out of their home or office.
Capn Obvius,
Very astute obs, and actually some humor in a horrible time.I applaud you!......now, I must clean the Diet coke off my keyboard.LOL
You....everytime!
Yup: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/gobie2...
You couldn't make this shit up!
...and don't forget that bawney's former "lova" of several years was an executive at the aforementioned fannie mae...
there must have been some interesting pillow biting, er, pillow talk during that politically incestuous relationship...
This is a great one. Democrats obviously have nothing to be ashamed of below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
Community Reinvestment Act. 'Nuff said.
Ron Paul in the House Financial Services Committee, September 10, 2003
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing on the Treasury Department's views regarding government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). I would also like to thank Secretaries Snow and Martinez for taking time out of their busy schedules to appear before the committee.
I hope this committee spends some time examining the special privileges provided to GSEs by the federal government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the housing-related GSEs received $13.6 billion worth of indirect federal subsidies in fiscal year 2000 alone. Today, I will introduce the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act, which removes government subsidies from the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the National Home Loan Bank Board.
One of the major government privileges granted to GSEs is a line of credit with the United States Treasury. According to some estimates, the line of credit may be worth over $2 billion. This explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out GSEs in times of economic difficulty helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy. Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt.
The Free Housing Market Enhancement Act also repeals the explicit grant of legal authority given to the Federal Reserve to purchase GSE debt. GSEs are the only institutions besides the United States Treasury granted explicit statutory authority to monetize their debt through the Federal Reserve. This provision gives the GSEs a source of liquidity unavailable to their competitors.
The connection between the GSEs and the government helps isolate the GSE management from market discipline. This isolation from market discipline is the root cause of the recent reports of mismanagement occurring at Fannie and Freddie. After all, if Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, investors would demand Fannie and Freddie provide assurance that they follow accepted management and accounting practices.
Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.
Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government's interference in the housing market, the government's policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve can stave off the day of reckoning by purchasing GSE debt and pumping liquidity into the housing market, but this cannot hold off the inevitable drop in the housing market forever. In fact, postponing the necessary, but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall. The more people invested in the market, the greater the effects across the economy when the bubble bursts.
No less an authority than Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has expressed concern that government subsidies provided to GSEs make investors underestimate the risk of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to once again thank the Financial Services Committee for holding this hearing. I would also like to thank Secretaries Snow and Martinez for their presence here today. I hope today's hearing sheds light on how special privileges granted to GSEs distort the housing market and endanger American taxpayers. Congress should act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors who were misled by foolish government interference in the market. I therefore hope this committee will soon stand up for American taxpayers and investors by acting on my Free Housing Market Enhancement Act.
Yes, and we continue to see that no matter how many thousand times RonPaul correctly understood the consequences of government action... the effort put into [trying-to] denigrate RonPaul (by republicans and democrats and lobbyists and new-world-order-thugs) only increases. Which should tell any honest person all they need to know about the world of powers-that-be.
Barney Fag used some skim from these behemoths as his personal fucking slush fund for better than a decade.
He was INSTRUMENTAL in FNM/FRE becoming what they were. Is it time for violence yet or does this come down the road a bit?
...i smell the resurrection of the "sons of liberty"
(remember when dick armey called him "barney fag" and had to apologize? now i don't care who you are, that was funny!)
We are in the best of hands! The media and the facts have long been seperated that is why we are addicticted to ZH.
Pigs like Frank don't care about banking or affordable houses, they want campaign money.
And graft.
How about the SOB that was head of it?.
He skated with 50 Million in Bonus money, and kept every dime.
Wonder why?(Hint, Obama got a large $$$ contribution from them).
This (adolescent male youth) whorehouse running clown was warned, by BUSH (no less), 5x's!!!!! about FM/FM, and Ron Paul several times to get it reigned IN, It was a bomb waiting to go off.
Did HE listen?..Hell No.These Bstds are beyond out of control.
When you can find YOU TUBE vids of Bawney saying that FM/FM were IN NO TROUBLE, and then he pulls a stunt like this.
Too bad we do not have any media outlets to run the You Tube Vids, and OUT him YET AGAIN.
On his arrogant,bald faced,tangled tounge tied LIES.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3914963/factor-face-off
My solution: Legalize homosexuality and eliminate socialism
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/new-agency-proposed-to-oversee-freddie-mac-and-fannie-mae.html
''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.''
Dele
As much as I think Fwank should be in jail for his whorehouse and links/support for the GSE's, why wouldn't he be this bold? The lame stream media won't call him out so he can be bold. There is little or nothing to keep our government in check, elections are slowly becoming irrelevant. I hope the tea parties help usher in a real conservative movement to take back the REP party and then take back America from big government.
Look at Charlie Crist announcing today he is running as an independent after saying he wouldn't. Look at Spector. Look at the REP leadership who have endorsed these idiots.
The Crispy announcement was a bummer, what a radiation burned D-bag.
And you wonder why they want to legalize marijuana, so we lose track of these ass-clown's ever changing positions to protect their little fiefdoms.
This guy is a complete idiot.
"Unlike the dotcom bubble, homeownership shows no evidence of leverage".
Willing to stand behind that statement today, Barney-boy?
+1
He has "zero" credibility
Asshole yes, idiot - I don't think so. Bawhney knows full well what he is saying. It just doesn't matter to him whether or not its the truth. He'll say whatever is needed at the time to advance an agenda.
You can see what the future holds for people like this in office. Their time will soon be up.
The growth of youtube and the internet, allowing REAL public opinion has enabled many to post and record, without prejudice, what someone said, did, or wrote previously. These paid shills can't run and hide anymore, and it is fun watching them produce lie after lie.
The good citizens of Massachusetts can fix that in the next election or even start a bowel movement to get rid of him.
They did it once, they can do it again.
the Mass-holes will re-elect Barney F
The comment: ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''
should be changed to: "The more Fannie and Freddie are allowed to guarantee toxic loans, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
It's so damn backwards, like student loans. The more financial aid given by government, the less affordable college is for everyone.
Yup that's why loan makers set the price on everything.
Loan gold to short
Loan stock to short
Anything with a central bank "loaning" practice behind it is removed from price discovery.
No, no! Dwat video wast taken owt of cwontext Twyler!
Twotawy out of cwontext!
That won't be twolorated!!
No matter how you frame it, Frank's speech and resolution on the floor of the House were nothing more than gestures. When it came to what mattered: Monetary policy, enforcement of laws, regulation and legislation, the GOP was in charge. Andrew Cuomo, when he was HUD secretary under Clinton, wanted to curtail predatory subprime lenders. Bush made sure they they flourished without restraint, since the most corrupt one lined Bush's pockets. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/12/27/stories/2004122701481300.htm
Heh - that's funny, you bringing up "framing".
Pot. Kettle. Some assembly required.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3914963/factor-face-off
Bush... not Frank...
December 16, 2003. The American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act authorizes up to $200 million annually for fiscal years 2004 - 2007.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/addi/
HOME is the largest Federal block grant to State and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households. Each year it allocates approximately $2 billion among the States and hundreds of localities nationwide. The program was designed to reinforce several important values and principles of community development:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/
Which was part of: HOME is authorized under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, as amended. Program regulations are at 24 CFR Part 92.
Which Daddy Bush pushed thru...
Those waskally wepublicans!
Our men and boys in iwreck and imgonistan are still killing and being killed. Our computer jockeys are still sending unwelcome american hate bombs to weddings and crashing other parties while protecting drug lords crops.
We all will suffer the karma of wrong action for allowing this to go on.
It's called the big lie... the one policy strategy that politicians all agree on. It is easy to spot the the guilty party in Congress, they are the one out of the gate first with the big lie. Somehow it always works... the shear audacity of it renders the lynch mob helpless in stupified awe...
+1000