Obama and McCain Are Slow off the Mark on Financial Crisis
Reader Comments
Great article, and I fully agree.
We shouldn't lose sight of what is at the heart of this mess; sub-prime mortgages. In the interest of making home ownership more affordable to low income households many Dems and some Reps advocated "new and innovational" lending techniques allowing access to the housing market to those who otherwise would have been excluded. In order to further advance this cause they advocated liberalizing GSE standards allowing these institutions to purchase these loans, securitize them into MBS's, and then sell them to overly leveraged investment banks and other investors with their "implicit" government gaurantee. This allowed these ill-advised loans to get off the books of the Countrywide's and IndyMac's and squarely into the laps of the taxpayer. Is it any wonder that Mozilo was a major advocate of the GSE's, and was providing preferential treatment to Dodd, Johnson, and others who influenced GSE policy?
In order to fix this mess we need to properly identify its root cause, and this is clearly the ill-advised practice of lending money to those who could not afford it. There's a reason why banks ask for money down, or proof of income, but in the interest of making housing more affordable many allowed these standards to be relaxed, and now we are paying the price.
Cetrtainly many are to blame (Reps and Dems), but the GSE's, and those who resisted tighter oversight and regulation into these institutions, and allowed their standards to be relaxed, deserve much of the blame. The GSE's are at the focal point of this MBS mess, and its these loans which the govenment must now buy back with our tax dollars. Its worth noting that in 2003 Bush tried to increase oversight, as did McCain in 2005, but each was resisted, and those that objected to tighter regulation and oversight of these quasi-private institutions (whatever that means) must stand up and be accountable.
Lies, Lies and More Lies!!!
Now I'm not a political expert yet when it comes to financial bailouts, wasn't the start of all this mess with the S&L crisis of which McCain was in neck deep??? Recent ads blame Obama for the S&L mess and I can't remember him being anywhere near. As I remeber its was Charles Keating and five senators of which McCain was a member who got slapped hands for losing $160B of money repaid by a government bailout. So why is America allowing McCain to blatantly lie repeatedly pinning HIS actions upon Obama who wasn't even in politicsat the time since he was still in college!!! McCain is either senile or just an idiot to pin his own actions on Obama. Are the Republicans actually going to drink McCain's Koolaid???
Here are the board members of AIG and you can see the light....
In fact, you will recognize many of these famous names indeed. They are all incestuous with the big players of Wall STreet who did not worry about losses, after all the Fed will just print the money and voila, problem solved at the taxpayers expense...
Now here is an even bigger crime...Lehman bros early monday morning before their press notification of their default..... BORROWED $350 MILLION FROM A GERMAN BANK AND A $150 MILLION DOLLAR LINE OF CREDIT THAT MORNING... WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT MONEY AND NOW THAT THEY ARE BANCRUPT DO WE PAY THAT LINE??? AND WHAT DID THEY DO WITH IT, DID THEY POCKET IT??? DID THEY PAY OFF THEIR "GAMBLING DEBT" WITH IT? THIS IS A SCAM... A BIG ONE. ITS CRIMINAL AND IT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BY THE JUSTICE DEPT IF YOU CAN FIND ANYONE IN THERE WHO ISN'T A CROOK.
Here is AIG board of directors.
LOOK AT WHO IS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR AIG...... read it and weep. Notice that water is the next oil wars and one of the board is on a global water board.
William Cohen - Bill Clintons Sec of def. now has the cohen group, he is also a member of the CFR. The Cohen group is a globalization consulting firm...nice, huh?
Pei--Yuan Chia - Retired VP CITIBANK AND CITICORP. Bankster.
Marshall A. COHEN - Molson companies.... check this out...talk about globalizing.....
http://www.csrwire.com/News/13152.html
Water control globally... remember, if they control food and water, they control the people.
These are all bankers, wall street and globalists.
Stephen L. Hammerman- Merrill Lynch & Co.
Carla A. Hills - remember her? FORMER US TRADE REP WHO GAVE US NAFTA.
WHERE ARE THE INSURANCE EXPERTS??? LOL
Richard C. Holbrooks - BIG TIME CFR (remember him, former state dept) and former vice chair of credit Suisse first Boston Bank
CURRENTLY VC OF PERSEUS GROUP A BANKING CONSORTIUM HERE, CHECK IT OUT
http://www.perseusllc.com/
- merchant bank and private equity fund management SIMILAR TO THE PRIVATE EQUITY CARLYLE GROUP.
Fred H. Langhammer - Chair of GLOBAL AFFAIRS
of the Estee Lauder company (boy this company is full of globalists)
Morris Offit - Co-Chief Executive officer of Offitbank... another bankster.
Michael H. Sutton - Former Chief acct SEC of the US...Wall STreet stock market guy. LOL
Robert B. Willumstad - Former Pres and CEO of Citigroup... another bankster.
Frank G. Zarb - Former Chair of NASDAG STOCK MARKET AND senior advisor to Hellman & Friedman LLC, - MERCHANT BANK AND PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND.
Now is anybody going to talk about how these bankers and private investors and stock brokerage people have the expertise to run an insurance company????? NOT. so what did they get in trouble for??? you guessed it INVESTMENT AND BANKING DERIVATIVES. NOTHING TO DO WITH INSURANCE. this is a crime and these people should all go to jail. NO BAIL OUT FOR THESE ANIMALS WHO ARE INTENTIONALLY BRINGING OUR COUNTRY DOWN.
This author is lying......
These bail outs for the banks and AIG were because of gambling by these companies through "margin OTC unregulated and unsupervised derivatives..... this is a crime and they should all be put in jail for this, and it was intentional,,, not necessarily the losses, they expected to have reaped great rewards for their betting, just like any gambler....rather the actual type of derivatives without SEC oversight that is used in the regular markets.... THE FED KNEW ABOUT THESE FOR YEARS NOW and set up this outside of the system derivatives for its bankers, they are complicit and should be disband...
AIG BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS FULL OF BANKERS, PRIVATE INVESTMENT FIRMS, GLOBALISTS, AND TRADE REPRESENTATIVES, AND HARDLY ANYONE WITH INSURANCE EXPERTISE, so it makes sense how they got into the derivatives since its a banking/investment/gambling issue.
If you want the real story read this... and not one more penny of taxpayers money should be spent.... congress did not approve this and they are the only legal source for such obligations and if they do approve this bailout then they have committed treason.... read this now as it lays out the entire thing HONESTLY.. something we never get from our politicians, the press or people like this author. who either is in on it or has no clue what is going on.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/IT-S-THE-DERIVATIVES-STUP-by-Ellen-Brown-080918-354.html
One more thing.
With the $500 billion to $1 TRILLION bailout of the financial markets, the candidates are going to have to set all of their plans aside. Obama is no longer going to able to give health care and $1000 checks to the middle class. It's all gone down the toilet due to the mismanagement and greed of the past decade (or longer). He's going to have to come up with something different in which to buy peoples' votes.
Obama has no idea where to even begin.
His silence speaks loudly to me.
I am afraid for this country if he becomes the next president. He is totally clueless on the economy as well as foreign policy.
CHANGE IS COMING - CHANGE YOU MAY NOT WANT
Jim Johnson was a corrupt head of Fannie Mae who, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million. He hid over 111,000 shares of Fannie Mae Stock, until it was later discovered.
Obama tapped Johnson as head of his Vice Presidential search committee. It was later disclosed that Johnson had received over 7 MILLION In "SWEETHEART LOAN DEALS" from Countrywide financial, who relied upon Fannie Mae to purchase Sub Prime Debt.
Johnson then stepped aside.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has criticized Countrywide's executives. "These are the people who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis. Two million people may end up losing their homes," Mr. Obama said in March at a town hall meeting in Lancaster, Pa.
Johnson and others at Fannie and Freddie lobbied Congress for lax oversight of Fannie & Freddie. Obama received the 2nd highest level of these lobbying donations from Fannie & Freddie, second to only Chris Dodd. (Chris Dodd Also Received "SWEETHEART LOAN DEALS " from CountryWide.) This lax oversight, brought on by what some term as political donationions ( but others term as nothing short of a legal form of BRIBERY ) resulted in the mess we now face.
Change is Coming. Change You Can Believe in! Changes like higher taxes. Changes like Increased interest rates. Changes like increased difficulty in obtaining a loan. Changes like plummeting home prices. Changes like More Jobs Going Overseas as a result of those increased taxes. Change like fewer opportunities to fund what would otherwise be viable government programs. Change like higher unemployment. Changes like more devaluation of the Dollar. Changes like higher gas prices & higher oil prices as a result of a devalued dollar.
Changes Are Coming, Brought to you by the people Obama trusted to be the head of his Vice Presidential selection committee. Change Brought To You By Chris Dodd and Barney Franks who refused in 2003 to let Congress address the calls for increased oversight at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (After Dodd Got A Huge Sum In BRIB.... er Politcal Contributions and a "SWETHEART LOAN DEAL")
in 2005 John McCain co-sponsored the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 which called for increased oversight of Fannie and Freddie but Dodd and others killed that idea. McCain's Address on the floor of the Senate reveals his foresight concerning the looming crisis, saying:
"If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole."
Change Is Coming. Change Is Coming. And you'd better get used to it!
http://mccain08.blip.tv/#1255
Obama's accomplishments
I for one recognize Obama's delaying action. What happened to his previous support of Freedy Mac's and Fanny May's MO? There is risk that Obama could become a poster boy for the collapse. But Obama could skate out of his own responsibility, going on to become president, and together with Pelosi & Reid instituting More govt.-mandated social engineering of the kind that had lenders loaning to unworthy credit risks. Here's a thought...as govt. tries to get rid of properties it's taking on, maybe Obama will create a new program-homes for poor folk who can't get credit.
Careful Analysis
I for one am glad Obama is willing to take an in depth look at current events, which have endless layers of complexity, before making up his mind and painting himself into a box, which has been the unfortunate habit of recent leaders on both sides. Our economy is in a mess, and it can't be straightened out in a press conference. It will likely take the trial and error of years, and sacrifice across the board.
Obama has an election to win before he can hope to do anything good at all for a politician weary American public. A thoughtful man is what we have been sorely needing. I think we have found one in Barack Obama.
so of
you are practically salivating over your upcoming $1,000 tax break aren't you?
"You cannot ask candidates to second-guess"... What is the color of the sky in your world? What do you think that politicians do all day long? Or are you one of these people that think Obama is a messiah? That he can do no wrong? Are you totally incapable of seeing any of Obama's faults?
All you ever do out here is throw insults at the republicans. You never criticize a dem. You never say what you are for. What your vision is. Why you support Obama. Why it is so important to you. Why don't you try being an advocate for your man?
