I see someone is already seeking donations to retire Barney Frank to P-Town.
Bwaney Frank’s fourth congressional district went overwhelmingly for Scott Brown; just five of the 24 cities and towns voted for Coakley. Frank acknowledges that it may be a tougher race than he’s used to. “But, if I want to get re-elected it’s my job to talk about the issues and my record, and that’s the nature of democracy,” he said.........fierce competition or not, Frank said he will “definitely” seek re-election this November.
NOT HIS DECISION TO MAKE What this self-absorbed Lipless Wonder fails to fathom is that his constituients (including those townhallers he sneered at) will decide whether he is fit to run for reelection. Now Frank wants to talk about his "record?" Fine. Here it is.
Let The Inquisition Start With Barney Frank
Investor's Business Daily | 3/6/09
FR Posted on 03/08/2009 by FreeManN
Congressman Barney Frank says he wants some of those responsible for our current financial meltdown to be prosecuted. And we couldn't agree more. First up in the court dock: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Even by the extraordinarily loose standards of Congress, it takes some chutzpah for someone such as Frank to suggest that he'll seek prosecutions for those behind the housing and financial crunch and for what he called "a strongly empowered systemic risk regulator." Frank: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's point man in Washington.
For Frank, perhaps more than any single individual in private or public life, is responsible for both the housing market mess and subsequent bank disaster. And no, this isn't partisan hyperbole or historical exaggeration.
But first, a little trip down memory lane. (Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorial.com ...
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September 24, 2008
Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection
Businessandmedia.org BY Jeff Poor
FR Posted by khnyny
Are journalists playing favorites with some of the key political figures involved with regulatory oversight of U.S. financial markets?
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews launched several vitriolic attacks on the Republican Party on his Sept. 17, 2008, show, suggesting blame for Wall Street problems should be focused in a partisan way. However, he and other media have failed to thoroughly examine the Democratic side of the blame game.
Prominent Democrats ran Fannie Mae, the same government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) that donated campaign cash to top Democrats. And one of Fannie Mae’s main defenders in the House – Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, a recipient of more than $40,000 in campaign donations from Fannie since 1989 – was once romantically involved with a Fannie Mae executive.
The media coverage of Frank’s coziness with Fannie Mae and his pro-Fannie Mae stances has been lacking. Of the eight appearances Frank made on the three broadcasts networks between Jan. 1, 2008, and Sept. 21, 2008, none of his comments dealt with the potential conflicts of interest. Only six of the appearances dealt with the economy in general and two of those appearances, including an April 6, 2008 appearance on CBS’s “60 Minutes” were about his opposition to a manned mission to Mars.
Frank has argued that family life “should be fair game for campaign discussion,” wrote the Associated Press on Sept 2. The comment was in reference to GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter. “They’re the ones that made an issue of her family,” the Massachusetts Democrat said to the AP.
The news media have covered the relationship in the past, but there have been no mentions since 2005, according to Nexis and despite the collapse of Fannie Mae. (Excerpt) Read more at businessandmedia.org ...
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Barney Frank - Don't Blame me for the Housing Bubble !!
Yahoo Finance | Jul 20, 2009 | Yahoo Finance
FR Posted 07/20/2009 by JosephSmithNAW
Who’s to blame for the subprime housing bubble? A popular answer – especially on the right side of the aisle - is Massachusetts Democrat, Barney Frank. Why? The argument, best summed up in an Investor's Business Daily editorial published in March 2009, goes like this: "Starting in the early 1990s," Rep. Barney Frank "(and other Democrats) stood athwart efforts by regulators, Congress and the White House to get the runaway housing market under control." It goes on to say in, "2002, Frank nixed reforms" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that in 2003, "led by Frank, Democrats stood as a bloc against any changes" that President Bush proposed making to Fannie and Freddie.
The Fannie Mae Dice Roll Continues
The Wall Street Journal / FR Posted Nov 11, 2009, by MissesBush
Rep Barney Frank, Sept 25, 2003." I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing."
It was six years ago that Mr. Frank announced his famous dice roll on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the name of affordable housing. Mr. Frank got his wish, and the losses keep rolling in, with no end in sight as Washington finds new ways for the companies to serve political purposes. Last week, Fannie Mae posted a quarterly loss of $19.8 B—which believe it or not was an improvement on the $29.4B it lost a year earlier.
Last quarter's results came with yet another request for government aid—$15B worth. That brings the total tab for Fannie and Freddie to $111B since they were put into conservatorship in Sept 2008. It would be bad enough if Fannie and Freddie's continuing losses were merely the product of bad bets made amid the housing bubble in 2006-07. But the latest red ink is in large part the result of a deliberate choice to run their businesses at a loss over the past year to support WHouse housing policies.
The most recent losses include $22B of what Fannie Mae calls "credit-related expenses," which in English means foreclosure costs and losses on loans that are "worth" more than the house. Of that amount, $7.7B comes straight from Fannie's support of the Obama Admin's mortgage-modification program. (Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...