Posted on 05/11/2010 3:34:42 PM PDT by STARWISE
Democrats still don’t get it, and they refuse to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government mortgage companies that sparked the meltdown by giving high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford it.
Standing up for American taxpayers, CNBC’s on-air editor, Rick Santelli teed off on Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s (D-PA) claim that Democrats’ couldn’t reform Fannie & Freddie in their financial regulation bill because it was “too complicated,” asking:
“It’s too complicated? You think taxpayers that go to work to pay the money you are subsidizing, it will end up a half a trillion, do you think they think complicated is an excuse?”
The exchange couldn’t have come at a worse time for Rep. Kanjorski and Congressional Democrats, because Fannie and Freddie simply won’t go away.
As the Financial Times reported today:
“Fannie Mae said on Monday it would need an additional $8.4bn in aid, as the US government-controlled mortgage finance company continued to suffer heavy losses on its bad loans…Fannie Mae’s appeal for help comes on the heels of a similar plea last week by smaller rival Freddie Mac, which asked for an additional $10.6bn cash infusion.
The latest requests for aid bring the total amount of taxpayer dollars drawn down by these companies to $148bn since the 2008 government-led bail-out.
“Anthony Sanders, a senior scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, called Fannie and Freddie ‘our own Greek tragedy.’ Mr. Sanders estimated that total taxpayer liability was about $8,000bn for the combined companies, including public debt and loan guarantees.”
But the unlimited bailout that the Administration has bestowed on Fannie and Freddie doesn’t seem to bother Democrats, though the latest giveaway may come at an “inconvenient time,” as the New York Times noted today:
“Fannie Mae’s request on Monday for another $8.4 billion in federal aid comes at a politically inconvenient time for the Obama administration, which is pressing to pass sweeping financial legislation without resolving the company’s future…. Democrats want to defer an overhaul of federal housing policy until next year, after the midterm elections.
But Republicans have seized on the continuing losses to argue that a plan for the two companies should be a priority of the current legislation.”
Republicans have been pressing for an end to bailouts that would get the government out of the mortgage business once and for all. But Democrats are not only unwilling to reform Fannie and Freddie, they are doubling down on the failed government mortgage companies – burning through hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the process.
As the Washington Post noted in a report today: “Under the terms of the government's 2008 emergency takeover of Fannie and Freddie, the Treasury must pump money into either firm whenever its worth, as measured by assets minus liabilities, goes into the red. Late last year, the Obama administration pledged unlimited backing.”
For years, Republicans raised red flags about Fannie and Freddie’s financial condition and proposed responsible reforms only to be thwarted by Democrats who have deep political ties to the worst offenders.
These same powerful Democrats are now pushing for a financial reform bill that doesn’t even address the need to fix these government mortgage companies. As the Wall Street Journal wrote last week, “reforming the financial system without fixing Fannie and Freddie is like declaring a war on terror and ignoring al Qaeda.”
House Republicans’ plan would phase out taxpayer subsidies of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a number of years and end the current model of privatized profits and taxpayer losses. Find out more by clicking HERE.
Remove these damn crooks, liars and dangerously incompetent fools !
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Bush Called For Reform of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac 17 Times in 2008 Alone… Dems Ignored Warnings
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“Reform” these days means government takeover.
Not much more of those two that the government wants to take....
~~PING!
Republican Regulatory Reform Plan
“Dems Ignored Warnings”
Those bstrds didn’t ignore anything...they knew just what they were doing.
You must begin with the premise that the Democrat Party is a criminal enterpria Then you must note unequivocally that Fannie Mae and Freddie mac are part and parcel of the Democrat party and in fact are mechanisms with which the criminal activities are carried out.
Mark Levin hammering at this right now. He read from this article also:
Fannie Mae: Now How Much Would You Pay?
Tim Cavanaugh | May 10, 2010
http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/10/fannie-mae-now-how-much-would
Isn’t Rick Santelli the FATHER of the TEA PARTY??? GO RICK!
The whole Idea of a “secondary” mortgage market backed by taxpayer dollars if flawed to begin with.
There is only one fix for this and that’s get rid of them altogether. If a “lender” wants to originate a loan they must have the funds and take the risks. If the loan go’s bad it’s their loss not the taxpayers. Yes it will be much harder to get a home loan but at least you won’t have taxpayers paying other peoples mortgages and bad debt.
Go Rick! I’m a huge fan of the Tea Party man.
Like that ever stopped them on, for example, health care.
Democrats didn’t ignore it - they lied about it, beginning with Barney Frank.
The lies and scams continue.
Yes !
He needs more credit for the Tea Party movement!!
THE RANT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
CNBC’s Rick Santelli called for a “Chicago Tea Party” Thursday, leading the charge for calls to revolt against the Obama Administration’s mortgage bailout plan.
Video here:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29283701/Rick_Santelli_s_Shout_Heard_Round_the_World
This has nothing to do with “Too complicated to fix.”
They don’t want to fix the system designed to buy them votes!
It IS thievery, NOT incompetence, because they’re meeting their objective to screw the taxpayer to fund their vote buying.
Steve Liesman didn’t say anything which is the smartest thing he has done in weeks.
Too complicated? Then abolish them. Is that simple enough for you?
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