Posted on 09/16/2008 8:34:50 AM PDT by Perdogg
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
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. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
(Excerpt) Read more at query.nytimes.com ...
Having a regulatory agency within the Treasury department to REPLACE an incompetent congressional regulatory agency was a good idea.
Great find. I sent it to both the RNC and to the McCain campaign.
NEED MORE details...
September 22, 2003
The bills now before Congress (HR 2575, sponsored by Congressman Baker; HR 2803, sponsored by Congressman Royce; and S. 1508, sponsored by Senators Hagel, Dole and Sununu) contain useful first steps but must go further to address the fundamental issues with respect to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Similarly, the Treasury testimony, while containing useful and constructive ideas, did not address the tough questions. Indeed, the danger is that Congress and the Administration may miss the opportunity for real reform.
. http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.19209/pub_detail.asp
[Then...]
July 28th, 2005 - Washington, D.C. - The Senate Banking Committee today approved legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole and her colleagues Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and John Sununu (R-NH) that would improve oversight of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE). The bill, the Federal Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act (S. 190), must now be considered by the full Senate.
http://dole.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=d692e1c0-224d-4109-ac5e-14a5cfee0af8&Month=7&Year=2005
S. 190 [109th]: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005
This bill never became law. This bill was proposed in a previous session of Congress. Sessions of Congress last two years, and at the end of each session all proposed bills and resolutions that haven’t passed are cleared from the books.
Last Action: Jul 28, 2005: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-190
Pay them 20 Mill, fine them six Mill for their corrupt incompetence, they walk away scot-free with 14 Mill, and get themselves another high-paying job somewhere. Campaign contributions, the Legalized System of Bribes and Kickbacks.
Obama actively OPPOSED reform of Freddie and Fannie! “and further weakened existing regulation.”
During this period[2005], Sen. Richard Shelby led a small group of legislators favoring reform, including fellow Republican Sens. John Sununu, Chuck Hagel and Elizabeth Dole.
Meanwhile, Dodd — who along with Democratic Sens. John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the top four recipients of Fannie and Freddie campaign contributions from 1988 to 2008 — actively opposed such measures and further weakened existing regulation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...AR2008091102841.html
The link is gone.
“During this period, Sen. Richard Shelby led a small group of legislators favoring reform, including fellow Republican Sens. John Sununu, Chuck Hagel and Elizabeth Dole. Meanwhile, Dodd — who along with Democratic Sens. John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the top four recipients of Fannie and Freddie campaign contributions from 1988 to 2008 — actively opposed such measures and further weakened existing regulation.
“
[trying to get link to work]
Obama actively OPPOSED reform of Freddie and Fannie! “and further weakened existing regulation.”
During this period[2005], Sen. Richard Shelby led a small group of legislators favoring reform, including fellow Republican Sens. John Sununu, Chuck Hagel and Elizabeth Dole.
Meanwhile, Dodd — who along with Democratic Sens. John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the top four recipients of Fannie and Freddie campaign contributions from 1988 to 2008 — actively opposed such measures and further weakened existing regulation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html
Ping!
investigate, investigate, investigate
You see. It was the RATs all along that are responsible for laying the foundation to this mess.
>>In “defense” of Fannie and Freddie, Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros (aka, Lemur Bros), Merrill Lynch and AIG have all crashed or are crashing and have nothing to do with Fannie and Freddie.
You should reconsider that. Bear Sterns was in the game they were in at least partially because of Freddie/Fannie guarantees.
See this for an interesting bit of history on that:
First Union, Bear, Stearns Price Securities Offering Backed By Affordable Mortgages (1997)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090118/posts
All time great...
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