Ch,Ch,Ch Changes

[southpaw]

forget it vman, I once thought there was hope for OAR but not now. Sinless has brainwashed them to believe in his version of change whatever that is. The Dems in Congress are just as much to blame as Bush. I hope Sinless does win cause in '10 the GOP will sweep back into power just like in '94. Two years of Sinless, Pelosi, and Reid will really scare the hell out of the country. I just hope what his left after two years resembles the America we know.

[deliverance]

Why change? Can't we find a way to re-elect Bush for 8 more years? He's done a wonderful job :roll: .

[Lemmy]

vman reports that

The bill passed the House but was never brought up for a vote in the Senate, largely because of Democratic opposition to change in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulatory structure that remained in place until the Treasury takeover two weeks ago.

As evidenced by the failure to pass the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, the Democrats in Congress have repeatedly fought back Republican Party efforts to reform the two mortgage banking giants.

Didn't the rethugs have control of the presidency, the house and the senate in 2005? Must have tried real hard for this reform...

How about Phil Graham's deregulating the credit default swapping. Does anyone remember Enron accounting?

Gramm's 262-page amendment, dubbed "The Commodity Futures Modernization Act," according to Texas Observer, freed financial institutions from oversight of their CDS transactions. "Prior to its passage, they say, banks underwrote mortgages and were responsible for the risks involved. Now, through the use of [CDSs]-which in theory insure the banks against bad debts-those risks are passed along to insurance companies and other investors," wrote Texas Observer.

How does this relate to Lehman's bankruptcy? "[CDSs] were a key factor in encouraging lenders to feel they could make loans without knowing the risks or whether the loan would be paid back. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act freed them of federal oversight," according to Texas Monthly. And it was due to these CDSs that Wall Street held an emergency session yesterday to try to minimize the damage of Lehman's CDSs and other derivatives. Unfortunately, this session did not produce much thanks to the built-in lack of knowledge of the risks in these transactions that Gramm's legislation ensured.

[vman]

The United States Senate

May 25, 2006

Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

It never made it out of committee. Chris Dodd, then the ranking member of the Banking Committee and now its chair, was in the middle of receiving preferential loan treatment from Countrywide Mortgage, one of the companies gaming the system in the credit crisis. Meanwhile, Barack Obama took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the lobbyists McCain mentions in this speech, making him the #2 recipient of Fannie/Freddie money: Obama had been in the Senate 3 years and he has more donations in that time than all the other Senators on the list have received in 10 years, except Dodd.

McCain managed to predict the entire collapse that has forced the government to eat Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with Bear Stearns and AIG. He hammers the falsification of financial records to benefit executives, including Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, both of whom have worked as advisers to Barack Obama this year. McCain also noted the power of their lobbying efforts to forestall oversight over their business practices.

According to the record, on July 28, 2005 the Banking Committee formally took up the bill and passed an amended version of it. Allbusiness.com reported about a month later that while both Republican and Democratic Members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee agreed about the need for a stronger, more powerful regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when it came time to vote on the GSE reform bill, members split along party lines, as the Committee voted 11 to nine to move the bill to the Senate floor. The bill that was passed apparently supported the Republicans’ (and the Mortgage Bankers’) position that Fannie and Freddie be limited to secondary mortgage market operations and excluded a requirement for designating a specific share of profits to affordable housing.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
More Democratic fingerprints: "...There are as many starting points for the mortgage meltdown as there are fears about how far it has yet to go, but one decisive point of departure is the final years of the Clinton administration, when a kid from Queens without any real banking or real-estate experience was the only man in Washington with the power to regulate the giants of home finance, the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), better known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the sub prime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why..."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

More Democratic Insight: "''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.''
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said

[Lemmy]

Oh my...

"Last week, though, McCain's trust in Davis was tested again amid disclosures that Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid his campaign manager's firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008. As the mortgage crisis has escalated, almost any association with Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae has become politically toxic. But the payments to Davis's firm, Davis Manafort, are especially problematic because he requested the consulting retainer in 2006—and then did barely any work for the fees, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement who asked not to be identified discussing Freddie Mac business. Aside from attending a few breakfasts and a political-action-committee meeting with Democratic strategist Paul Begala (another Freddie consultant), Davis did "zero" for the housing firm, one of the sources said. Freddie Mac also had no dealings with the lobbying firm beyond paying monthly invoices—but it agreed to the arrangement because of Davis's close relationship with McCain, the source said, which led top executives to conclude "you couldn't say no.""

[southpaw]

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that Barney "BP" Frank is in charge of our economy! Wow if anyone is more inept than Pelosi its him. Barney's speech impediment is a real riot! Say don't spray it!

[Lemmy]

hmmm, no this can't be true, why unfettered and unregulated capitalism solves everything. enron was nothing to see just move along. just move along..

The top dogs of the big three credit rating companies made $80 million in compensation while their firms gave bogus high ratings to trillions in dubious mortgage-related investments which led to the world's current financial meltdown -- and a hearing before bitter lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning.

"The story of the credit rating agencies is a story of colossal failure," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will tell the men when they appear before his committee this morning, according to a draft of his prepared comments. "The result is that our entire financial system is now at risk."

The top executives -- Moody's Corporation CEO Raymond W. McDaniel, Standard & Poor's president Deven Sharma, and Fitch Ratings' president and CEO Stephen Joynt -- are expected to say the meltdown of mortgage-backed securities was "unanticipated" and "unprecedented."

But confidential documents obtained by Waxman's investigators show that the firms' executives anticipated much of what has happened, and were aware that their ratings were quite possibly shaky, according to the chairman.

"It could be structured by cows and we would rate it," one Standard & Poor's employee wrote in a company email cited by Waxman. "Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters," wrote another in an email obtained by Waxman's committee.


emphasis mine...

[Lemmy]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6079598&page=1

sorry did not link to the original story.

[southpaw]

Obama Fundraising Drops as McCain's Cash Dwindles
After a massive $150 million cash haul in September, the Democratic candidate sees a big drop in fundraising.

AP

Friday, October 24, 2008
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WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's fundraising clip slowed down in October to about a half of his torrid September pace even as he increased his spending to record levels.

Obama reported raising $36 million for his campaign during the first two weeks of October. He spent more than $105 million during that same period, a pace that would more than double his spending from September.

The Illinois senator shattered records and dumbfounded Republicans and Democrats by raising $150 million in September. One-fifth of the September amount came from a joint victory fund that divides proceeds with the Democratic Party. His October report showed no share from the victory fund even though it raised about $27 million during the same October period.

But as the election nears, both Obama and rival John McCain saw their cash on hand dwindle.

Obama had nearly $66 million in the bank at the end of the two week period. The Democratic National Committee and the joint victory fund reported combined cash on hand of $31 million.

Republican rival John McCain and the Republican National Committee reported having a combined $84 million as of last week to spend before Election Day.

The reports illustrated Obama's superior financial position going into October. He spent more than $80 million on media advertising. McCain, using his resources and the RNC's, spent a combined $38 million on ads.

McCain, who has accepted public financing for his campaign, is restricted in his spending. As of Oct. 15 he had more than $25 million in hand, but more than $1 in million debts. The RNC, which has been helping his candidacy, had more than $59 million in the bank.

At McCain's spending rate of $1.5 million a day, the Arizona senator likely has only $12 million to spend in the next 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Obama is not participating in the public finance system, a strategy he used to advantage in September with a remarkable surge of donations. His October fundraising slowed, even though Democrats had hoped that presidential and vice presidential debates held during that period would have spurred additional giving.

Obama issued an e-mail fundraising appeal on Thursday, telling supporters that "the margins of victory in crucial battleground states will be small."

"We can't risk coming up short," he added.

While Obama had drawn attention by his fundraising, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, and the RNC came under scrutiny this week after the party committee reported that it had spent about $150,000 on wardrobe and cosmetics after Palin became McCain's running mate.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Palin complained she was being held to a different standard and said the clothes bought for the Republican National Convention were not worth $150,000. She said most of the clothes have not left the campaign plane.

"Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are," she said Thursday.

There was no evidence of additional clothing purchases in the most recent reports.

But McCain's Oct. 1-15 filing showed that the campaign paid $22,800 to Palin's traveling stylist, Amy Strozzi, an acclaimed celebrity makeup artist. In contrast, McCain's foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.

McCain's major expense was advertising -- he spent more than $19 million from Oct. 1-15 on ads. The RNC contributed an extra $10 million to help with those media buys. It also spent $8.5 million on ads on behalf of McCain that were placed independently of his campaign.

McCain also filed two additional reports. A report covering his primary contest shows he has $21 million in leftover funds. McCain cannot use that money for the general election, because he has accepted $84 million in public financing. But he has given some of the remaining money from the primaries to Republican Party committees in key battleground states to help him with his campaign.

Much of that money has been spent on direct mail and get-out-the-vote efforts.

McCain's other report covered another account with $20.5 million as of Oct. 15. That fund can only be used to help cover legal and compliance costs associated with his participation in the public financing system.



Guess with the oil prices tanking the muslim petrol emirs don't have any more money to give Obama! When is that donor list going to become public? My guess is about the same time John Kerry releases his military records!

There is no god by allah and mohommad is his profit!