Posted on 10/11/2008 5:46:48 AM PDT by markomalley
The DEMbacle might have been averted if Democrats had permitted oversight of Fannie Mae.
The Republicans did not have the 60 votes necessary to bring their reform to the floor of the senate.
Here's an excerpt from Munich, 1922....
“The German people after twenty-five or thirty years, in consequence of the fact that it will never be able to pay all that is demanded of it, will have so gigantic a sum still owing that practically it will be forced to produce more than it does today.’ What will the end be? and the answer to that question is ‘Pledging of our land, enslavement of our labor-strength. Therefore, in the economic sphere, November 1918 was in truth no achievement, but it was the beginning of our collapse.’ And in the political sphere we lost first our military prerogatives, and with that loss went the real sovereignty of our State, and then our financial independence, for there remained always the Reparations Commission so that ‘practically we have no longer a politically independent German Reich, we are already a colony of the outside world. We have contributed to this because so far as possible we humiliated ourselves morally, we positively destroyed our own honor and helped to befoul, to besmirch, and to deny everything which we previously held as sacred.’ If it be objected that the Revolution has won for us gains in social life: they must be extraordinarily secret, these social gains - so secret that one never sees them in practical life - they must just run like a fluid through our German atmosphere. Some one may say ‘Well, there is the eight-hour day!’ And was a collapse necessary to gain that? And will the eight-hour day be rendered any more secure through our becoming practically the bailiff and the drudge of the other peoples? One of these days France will say: You cannot meet your obligations, you must work more. So this achievement of the Revolution is put in question first of all by the Revolution.”
Translations are a bit awkward, but one gets the gist. Adolf really sucked em in, as Obama is doing now.
http://www.hitler.org/speeches/.... for comparisons.
Sounds good to me.
If Republicans could just point out that the subprime mortgage mess results from decades of government efforts to use the mortgage market to provide affordable housing and that Democrats spearheaded those efforts, the public’s preconceptions would do the rest. Most people don't know much, but they do know that Democrats are the party of welfare.
McCain, Bush and Republicans in Congress just blew it. They had the ball on the opponent's two yard line and they fumbled. The plummeting Dow should be dragging Dems down, but it isn't because the Republicans couldn't bring themselves to point the finger of blame. All these years of catching flack and they still haven't figured out that in politics it matters more who gets blamed when things go wrong than who gets credit when things go right.
Can anybody here play this game?
McCain has to decide if he wants to be a Senator or President. So far he is running for Miss Congeniality.
Pray for W, McCuda and Our Troops
I’ve added the key word “obamacrash” to this thread.
I just saw a replay of that soundbite on Fox.Wanted to put my foot through the screen.Fortunately my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet.”Has he given up?”Short anwser is no.Keep in mind this is the same guy who “reached across the aisle” to co-author the McCain/Kennedy immigration(amnesty) bill.
McCain thought he was going to take one for the team and put up a good battle before Hillary was elected first queen.
Along comes a clean,well dressed, articulate black man who pulled off the impossible mostly because Hillary and her team screwed up in many ways.
McCain is a globalist and he is just following his marching orders just like the rest of them.
John’s heart just might not be in it 100%.
You don't need sixty votes to bring it to the floor. It simply needs to be released from committee by a majority vote. It requires sixty votes to over ride a veto. It still could have been brought to the floor and been put on record.
It indeed was a stunning moment. I was screaming at the TV set when I saw him essentially capitulate his campaign and endorse Obama! All my wife could do (she greatly admires McCain) was sit there in embarrassment.
This is not the man who survived 5 1/2 years of tourture and maltreatment in a prison cell at the Hanoi Hilton. Instead, this is a man who has flourished for 26 years at the trough in Washington.
There is a Big Difference!
Would there have been any debate?
It IS on record.
Huh? If it's released from committee then it goes to the floor.
Would there have been any debate?
I guess we'll never know since the pubs capitulated so easily.
BTW, can you point to the bill? I would like to look it up and see who supported it.
This piece by Himelfarb is nice but doesn’t print out on one page...this one does...http://www.theusmat.com/...As far as McCain’s erratic behavior toward Democrats are concerned lets put up with it and work around it...I’d rather have four years of McCain than four years of strife once that “fine decent family man” wins.
S. 190 [109th]: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005
[Hagel] Mr. President, I rise today to introduce, along with my colleagues Senators SUNUNU and DOLE, the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. This is needed regulatory reform at a critical time for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.There is no doubt that our housing government sponsored enterprises GSEs, have been successful in carrying out their mission of providing liquidity for the housing market. The market has remained strong through tough economic times, and homeownership in this country is at an all-time high.
The housing GSEs, however, are uncommon institutions with a unique set of responsibilities and stakeholders.
Fannie and Freddie are chartered by Congress, limited in scope, and are subject to Congressional mandates, yet they are publicly traded companies with all the earnings pressure that Wall Street demands.
Additionally, Fannie and Freddie enjoy an implicit guarantee by the Federal Government that has aided them in developing substantial clout on Wall Street. With their influence in the markets, their ability to raise capital at near-Treasury bill rates, and their use of the most sophisticated portfolio management tools, Fannie and Freddie today are no longer simply secondary market facilitators for mortgages.
The significance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to our economy cannot be overstated. Together, the companies own or guarantee roughly 45.6 percent of all mortgage loans in the United States. The companies combined have issued over $3.9 trillion in obligations comprised of $2.2 trillion in mortgage backed securities and $1.7 trillion of GSE debt.
It is clear that the recent revelations at both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae precipitate the need for Congress to address GSE regulatory reform. In 2003, Freddie Mac found itself treading through a wave of accounting problems and questionable management actions. That led to an income restatement of $5 billion, a penalty of $125 million and the removal of several members of its executive management. One year later, a similar surge of questionable practices was discovered at Fannie Mae. That led to the retirement and resignation of two of Fannie Mae's top management officials, as well as last month's ruling by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, that Fannie could face a $9 billion income restatement.
At a minimum, the bar for a GSE should not be held lower than it is for any other company. In fact, given its congressionally chartered mission to serve a public interest, the bar should be held significantly higher. The operations of such companies should be managed with uncompromising integrity and unabridged transparency.
Our legislation would create a new independent world class regulator for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Our bill provides the new regulator with enhanced regulatory flexibility and enforcement tools like those afforded to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Furthermore, the bill would:
Provide the new regulator the authority of receivership to close down a failing GSE and protect against a taxpayer bailout; provide the new regulator greater discretion in raising capital standards to protect against insolvency; provide the new regulator approval power over new programs and activities proposed by a GSE; provide the regulator with greater authority to limit exit compensation packages or golden parachutes for executives removed for cause; require the annual audits of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's affordable housing programs to ensure that these programs support the enterprises' affordable housing mission; end presidential appointments to the board of directors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and would require all Federal Home Loan Bank directors to be elected.This reform is important to restoring and maintaining the confidence that investors and the markets require. In light of the recent problems at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, it is even more important. I urge my colleagues to support this reform effort and invite them to cosponsor our bill.
Which particular Republicans do you think we should blame?
Which particular Democrats do you think we should blame?
We are preaching to the choir here...We need to cover more ground to get them to listen to us!!
Go here to let them know how you feel.
Post #139 Link to email & fax information
S190 got out of committee by 11-9 and they didn't have enough votes if the Dems tried to fillibuster it.Another poster's take on this (same web page)It was considered a partisan bill needless to say even though they were warned otherwise by Greenspan and others.
The main reason the dems didn't like it was due to portfolio caps that they felt would harm FM/FM 's ability to offer no money down mortages needed to help those " that couldn't afford it".
If REP had 60 votes they would have passed it. Bush wanted it. Treasury Dept wanted it. Rep leadership wanted it. Many powerful republicans wanted it.
Yep Bush jumped in with both feet and even PRAISED Raines
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