Posted on 03/06/2009 8:37:38 PM PST by Libloather
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
In September 2003, Frank, then the ranking Democrat on the Republican-led Financial Services Committee, opposed a Bush administration proposal for transferring oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to a new agency that would be created within the Treasury Department. The proposal reflected the administration's belief that Congress "neither has the tools, nor the stature" for adequate oversight. Frank stated, "These two entities...are not facing any kind of financial crisis.... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Conservative groups have criticized Frank for campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ($42,350 between 1989 and 2008). They further claim the donations influenced his support of their lending programs, and they have partially blamed Frank for not playing a stronger role in reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the Economic crisis of 2008. In addition, Frank's former partner, Herb Moses, was an executive at Fannie from 1991 to 1998, where Moses helped develop many of Fannie’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs. In 1991, Frank pushed for reduced restrictions on two- and three-family home mortgages. Frank and Moses' relationship ended around the same time Moses left the company; Frank's support of Fannie and Freddie predated and continued past that relationship.
Frank has responded that he "opposed right-wing efforts to put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of business, while simultaneously supporting strong regulation" and "voted against the [2005 reform] bill in protest of those restrictions, while making it clear that I was for the reforms it otherwise contained." Lawrence B. Lindsey, former chief economic adviser to then-President Bush, states that Frank "is the only politician I know who has argued that we needed tighter rules that intentionally produce fewer homeowners and more renters."
Just gathering evidence...
Which they have no intention of doing.
And Barack Hussein Obama has been right in the middle of it all from the getgo.
By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute, 9/24/2008
excerpt...
"Frank, who is openly gay, had a relationship with Herb Moses, an executive for the now-government controlled Fannie Mae. The column revealed the two had split up at the time but also said Frank was referring to Moses as his "spouse." Another Washington Post report said Frank called Moses his "lover" and that the two were "still friends" after the breakup.
Frank was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae, which is now under FBI investigation along with its sister organization Freddie Mac, American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) – all recently participants in government bailouts. But Frank has derailed efforts to regulate the institution, as well as denying it posed any financial risk."
http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx
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Lawmaker Accused of Fannie Mae Conflict of Interest
By Bill Sammon, October 03, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.
So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.
Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.
Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.
"It’s absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?
"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard."
A top GOP House aide agreed.
"C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?" the aide told FOX News. "No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws."
Frank’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Frank met Moses in 1987, the same year he became the first openly gay member of Congress.
"I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus," Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. "On Capitol Hill, Barney always introduces me as his lover."
The two lived together in a Washington home until they broke up in 1998, a few months after Moses ended his seven-year tenure at Fannie Mae, where he was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."
Critics say such programs led to the mortgage meltdown that prompted last month’s government takeover of Fannie Mae and its financial cousin, Freddie Mac. The giant firms are blamed for spreading bad mortgages throughout the private financial sector.
Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively.
Three years later, President Clinton’s Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to impose a new regulation on Fannie, but was thwarted by Frank. Clinton now blames such Democrats for planting the seeds of today’s economic crisis.
"I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Clinton said recently.
Bill Sammon is FOX News' Washington Deputy Managing Editor.
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,432501,00.html
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Rush Limbaugh's Barney Frank/Banking Queen parody of ABBA's "Dancing Queen":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwVWXN0Pyq4
"We've been through nearly a dozen hearings where frankly we were trying to fix something that wasn't broke. Mr. Chairman we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and in particular at Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines."-Rep. Maxine Waters, 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
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History of Fannie Mae scandal
"Fannie Mae announces its long-awaited restatement, erasing $6.3 billion in profit from 2001 through June 30, 2004."
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/12/07/history_of_fannie_mae_scandal/?page=1
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Bailout Politics: The Congressional Dems who enabled this crisis are now being trusted to fix it?
Thomas Sowell, September 30, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWE3OWU3OTExYzNlNTUzMzY2YmJmOWZjMzcwN2M1NjU=
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Guilty Party: ACORN, Obama, and the mortgage mess
Mona Charen, September 30, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mzk4MmVkNzA1NGQ2NGRkZjQ2YjNmYjdlODZkMmQ4N2I=
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An ACORN Falls from the Tree: A congressional outrage
Ken Blackwell, September 29, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2Y5MTc0ZTAyMmE1Mjk3NGE3OWRiY2FkMjZlN2YxYzc=
Bawney Fwank was a major player in creating the problem in the first place. He has plenty of reason to hide the evidence where the sun don’t shine.
Here is a good video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&NR=1
I love the “burning down the House” video but they keep taking it down, I think the sound track gets them in trouble with copy right stuff.
This one works, for now, but they really messed up the sound. Lots of Libs at You Tube, I am guessing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgSubmiGt8
No wonder the Market is tanking.
The entire Obambi government is in way, WAY over their tiny little pinheads.
Absolute and total amateurs grinding our country and economy right into the dust.
Presidents are not SUPPOSED to “run” the economy.
It is pathetic how many Dems do not understand this point.
Yes, the President can be a positive influence, a positive player, but -— the economy is millions of decisions being made every day, based not just on accounting but ALSO on emotion and incentives.
Obama does not understand that true “stimulus” is something that LEVERAGES government money in order to stimulate PRIVATE money.
Most of the time, if a President tries to be the MAJOR player in any economy, the economy tanks.
So, a little windy, sorry, but I am trying to say that NOBODY can “run” the economy, and these Marxists do not understand that point.
That's the problem. Congress has too many tools already.
They’re a couple of hypocrites and should be investigated by an independent prosecutor. But we know that will never happen.
Just like they did with 9-11 and the Chicom/Clinton connection.
Meanwhile, Republicans are attacking "mean-spirited" conservatives.
Loved Mark Levin but Oh’Really took the middle road again and blamed both parties.........he needs to be hit by a Mack Truck as he walks the white line.
marker
Banking queen is quite appropriate and I agree, Frank and his cohorts should be...I’d better stop now.
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