Posted on 10/10/2008 11:13:27 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup
Can someone please help me locate the May 2006 letter from Obama to Treasury Secretary Paulson
Big Foot has it.
Even if Senator Obama did write a letter to Secretary Paulson, which I’m skeptical of, why would the Secretary pay any attention to a letter from a JUNIOR first-term senator?
Legislation is how you get things done, Senator Obama, not writing letters. If you’re not sure how to do that, check with Senator McCain. He knows how.
Obama Letter Urging Bernanke & Paulson to Prevent Subprime Crisis, March 2007
Mortgage & Credit Crisis, Politics-US, Vote 2008
The following is the text of Sen. Obama’s letter to Treasury secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, from 27 March 2007, urging them to take immediate action to prevent a wave of foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market and a subsequent credit crisis:
Dear Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson,
There is grave concern in low-income communities about a potential coming wave of foreclosures. Because regulators are partly responsible for creating the environment that is leading to rising rates of home foreclosure in the subprime mortgage market, I urge you immediately to convene a homeownership preservation summit with leading mortgage lenders, investors, loan servicing organizations, consumer advocates, federal regulators and housing-related agencies to assess options for private sector responses to the challenge.
We cannot sit on the sidelines while increasing numbers of American families face the risk of losing their homes. And while neither the government nor the private sector acting alone is capable of quickly balancing the important interests in widespread access to credit and responsible lending, both must act and act quickly.
Working together, the relevant private sector entities and regulators may be best positioned for quick and targeted responses to mitigate the danger. Rampant foreclosures are in nobody’s interest, and I believe this is a case where all responsible industry players can share the objective of eliminating deceptive or abusive practices, preserving homeownership, and stabilizing housing markets.
The summit should consider best practice loan marketing, underwriting, and origination practices consistent with the recent (and overdue) regulators’ Proposed Statement on Subprime Mortgage Lending. The summit participants should also evaluate options for independent loan counseling, voluntary loan restructuring, limited forbearance, and other possible workout strategies. I would also urge you to facilitate a serious conversation about the following:
What standards investors should require of lenders, particularly with regard to verification of income and assets and the underwriting of borrowers based on fully indexed and fully amortized rates.
How to facilitate and encourage appropriate intervention by loan servicing companies at the earliest signs of borrower difficulty.
How to support independent community-based-organizations to provide counseling and work-out services to prevent foreclosure and preserve homeownership where practical.
How to provide more effective information disclosure and financial education to ensure that borrowers are treated fairly and that deception is never a source of competitive advantage.
How to adopt principles of fair competition that promote affordability, transparency, non-discrimination, genuine consumer value, and competitive returns.
How to ensure adequate liquidity across all mortgage markets without exacerbating consumer and housing market vulnerability.
Of course, the adoption of voluntary industry reforms will not preempt government action to crack down on predatory lending practices, or to style new restrictions on subprime lending or short-term post-purchase interventions in certain cases. My colleagues on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs have held important hearings on mortgage market turmoil and I expect the Committee will develop legislation.
Nevertheless, a consortium of industry-related service providers and public interest advocates may be able to bring quick and efficient relief to millions of at-risk homeowners and neighborhoods, even before Congress has had an opportunity to act. There is an opportunity here to bring different interests together in the best interests of American homeowners and the American economy. Please don’t let this opportunity pass us by.
Sincerely,
Obama’s dog ate it.
Beware, there are a lot of fakes floating around. I’ve seen where people made fake ones to mock Obama only to have DU post it as real.
So, be aware that you may receive a fake one.
Also would like video of the Waukesha, WI Townhall where a real estate broker asked McCain to Name Names in the FannieMae/FreddieMac crisis.
Never heard of any such letter, but for the record, Paulsen became Treasury in July of ‘06...are you searching for something regarding his confirmation?
The dog ate it.
Thanks but they is a May of 2006 letter. I saw it but can’t find it again! Not the 2007 letter. Thnaks again.
And this one sounds like he is worried about keeping Acorn and the rest in business making more bad loans. Not a lot of concern for Fannie, Freddie or the rest of the banking system. He must have had Barney write this.
The real one is on his Senate website, and the text of it is posted upthread. Funny he keeps it up on his Senate website, because it doesn’t say what he is now saying it says.
He is lying about it, and it’s obvious when you read it.
EVERYONE is looking for this thing — I’m waiting for the media-genius to comprehend that if such a letter was sent from a U.S. Senator to the Secretary of the Treasury, this is official correspondence, subject to FOIA, ANY citizen is entitled to see it, not just that particular senator’s constituents. Official business is official business, he may not claim any kind of privacy, neither so can the Secretary. Open the files, gentlemen, let us see this vaunted prescience.
Yea, I’ll believe there is a letter when I see an actual copy, stamped with the date/time stamp of when it was received in Bernake’s office. Not some ‘text’ of the letter posted now. That would be like re-recording an anti-war speech a couple of years after it was supposedly given, where no recording of the original exists.
Fake but accurate???
How could 0bama write a letter to Paulson in May of 2006 when Paulson became Treasury Secretary in July of 2006?
http://obama.senate.gov/press/070322-obama_urges_ber/
Check the date of the letter from Obama’s site & then check for the date that Henry Paulson was nominated.
BUSTED
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