Donald Trump bashes President Bush(Flashback 2008)

New York Daily News ^ | June 10, 2008 | BY ELLEN TUMPOSKY

[Son House]

ABERDEEN, Scotland - The Donald to W: "You stink."

Donald Trump trashed President Bush Tuesday as a "terrible" President who has destroyed the world economy - but insisted the global crunch wouldn't stall his planned $2 billion golf resort.

"We have a President in the United States who's terrible. He stinks," Trump said.

Trump said he can't wait to see Bush head back to Texas after the November election is done.

"Hopefully, we'll have a good, new President, whoever he is," Trump said.

He praised both major party candidates - Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee and John McCain, his Republican counterpart.

"[Obama] has done an amazing job," Trump said. "He came from nowhere."

The tycoon called McCain "a friend of mine" who made a stunning political comeback.

Either will be better than Bush, said Trump.

Trump, who was in Scotland on personal business and not for U.S. politics, told a hearing on his planned megaresort that the economic climate has dramatically worsened since he first started buying land north of Aberdeen for the project.

[Son House]

He left on out on the birther too, Trump told O’Reilly he thinks it was in America. Then why ask for the birth certificate?

[ez]

Look, I’m no expert on the economy. All I know is that we were in great shape until 2007, when the Dems took over Congress and started the spending binge.

[raybbr]

Charts don't mean a thing.

What policies, be specific, did Bush do to keep unemployment down?

What policies, be specific, did Bush employ to secure the future?

How did he cut spending from 2000 to 2006? How did he reduce the size of the federal govt?

What policies did he implement that would curtail spending and reduce taxation. You can't use the Bush tax cuts of 2003 because he never did another thing to cut taxes.

If it weren't for 9-11 we never would have had those tax cuts.

[ASA Vet]

Then why ask for the birth certificate?

To find out who the father is.

If it's truly Barack Obama (Sr.) that proves Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama the US Resident is NOT a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN.

[McGruff]

Keep reminding people of this.

[Son House]

Yes, I’d even have to put Joe the Plumber higher on that note. At least Joe has had a notable epiphany, and because of the situation, is a seemingly better advocate for the conservative side.

[Blind Eye Jones]

“Bush pushed for tax dollars to be used pay down payments on homes for minorities and illegals.”

I doubt this. The Republicans tried to reform Fannie and Freddy but didn’t succeed. You can see some of the debate and procedural give and take on Youtube.

[Magnatron]

ez wrote:

“Like what?”

You’re kidding, right?...

How ‘bout for starters:

Runaway spending (Congress controls the purse strings, but what did he do to rein them in?)

Lack of border enforcement

Turning a blind eye to “legal” slavery (illegal immigrants who are already here - not sending them home)

Department of Homeland Security (and a myriad of other intrusive Constitution-stomping surveillance operations)

Allowing the Democrats to run the housing market (again, he’s one of the checks and balances - why didn’t he use it?)

Entering a war and not allowing us to fight it and get it done

Backing off of the search for Bin Laden and Zawahiri (wouldn’t want to upset Pakistan after all)

Expanding the Department of Education

Never pulling out his veto pen for anything

Collaborating with some of most left wing members of Congress (like Ted Kennedy) on legislation

And on and on and on...

I used to come back on my left-wing friends who would complain about Bush: “I don’t know why you all are complaining, Bush is the best Democrat the Republicans ever elected!”

[Tex-Con-Man]

Trump openly admits his harsh criticism of Bush, he has never tried to duck this.

Yeah, but what true conservative ever thought Obama would be anything other than the complete disaster he turned out to be. The Donald has not proved himself to be any more conservative than Huckabee or Mitt.

[matthew fuller]

" Now suddenly he is a birther - conjured up out of thin air to get massive tv coverage and it is working"

It's also having another effect; It's changing the boundaries of the upcoming campaign in a very welcome way. I'm happy that he's in the fray just for that reason, even if all that you say is true.

[iopscusa]

I agree by the time Bush said he had to destroy the free market he had become a yoxic fool! I’m not a Trump fan but let him step up and lay some stink on BO....more than Fox News idiots, O’Bore, Beck cowards will do.

[raybbr]

“Bush pushed for tax dollars to be used pay down payments on homes for minorities and illegals.” I doubt this. The Republicans tried to reform Fannie and Freddy but didn’t succeed. You can see some of the debate and procedural give and take on Youtube.

Don't doubt it. Read it.

In Bush's June 17, 2002 speech, he also called for the creation of the American Dream Down Payment Fund.

"And so here are some of the ways to address the issue. First, the single greatest barrier to first time homeownership is a high downpayment. It is really hard for many, many, low income families to make the high downpayment. And so that's why I propose and urge Congress to fully fund the American Dream Downpayment Fund. This will use money, taxpayers' money to help a qualified, low income buyer make a downpayment. And that's important."

And, the 108th Congress (2003-2005) responded with the American Dream Downpayment Act:

"Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to: (1) authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to State and local participating jurisdictions for downpayment assistance and related home repair to low-income, first-time home buyers; and (2) limit family assistance to the greater of six percent of the purchase price or $10,000. Requires a participating jurisdiction to include intended grant uses in its fiscal year comprehensive housing affordability strategy under such Act."

"Sets forth State and local jurisdiction allocation formulas. Permits fund reallocation."

"Requires the Comptroller General to report respecting the impact of such grants on a State-by-State basis."

"Terminates grant authority after December 31, 2007. Authorizes specified FY 2004 through 2007 appropriations."

"Makes the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 inapplicable to such assistance."

[Blind Eye Jones]

"This will use money, taxpayers' money to help a qualified, low income buyer make a downpayment. And that's important."

But look at what he says "a qualified, low income..." That tells me it wasn't just an irresponsible handout for votes. And I don't see anything about illegals.

[raybbr]

But look at what he says "a qualified, low income..." That tells me it wasn't just an irresponsible handout for votes. And I don't see anything about illegals.

Do you actually think it mattered whether they were illegal or not? With the way the feds handle money I guarantee they would have gotten money.

What do you say "Liz"? Did illegals get mortgage money?

[Liz]

The subprime mortgage meltdown is attributed to illegal invaders fraudulently getting loans with stolen identities. No questions asked about citizenship status, employment, etc-—— if they could breathe and make an X, they got a mortgage.

The conniving illegals then flipped the mortgaged houses among relatives at higher and higher prices.......the last relative absconds to Mexico with loads of cash, leaving banks (and taxpayers) holding the bag.

The buzz is Mexico actually ran newspaper ads on how to get free US housing.

CNBC featured an illegal latino who barely spoke English who mowed lawns for a living. He got a mortgage on a luxurious home by lying about his salary on the mortgage app. Then came the R/E bust. Naturally he couldn’t keep up the payments-—he defaulted and moved into a relative’s home.

[jerseyrocks]

I believe McCain was not a fan of President Bush either, but how many of you voted for him in 2008?

[Liz]

The sub-prime villains are those who focused on short-term gains, and cared less about the long-term damage done to real estate markets, banks, lawyers, appraisers, accountants, auditors........... and the American economy.

No one has yet been held responsible and served any serious jail time or been stripped of fraudulently acquired assets. Some specific people surface---- getting the credit they deserve for promoting, then trashing the real estate business, and creating the unsustainable mortgage securitization business model.

Countrywide Mtge head Angelo Mozilo has shown us the true path----w/ his monster-child, MERS---- a nationwide electronic database of mortgages.

The impetus for a nationwide electronic database of mortgages originally came in the early 1990's from the biggest mortgage players - the MBA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae .....

<><><> Fannie/Freddie are the key criminal mechanisms of the criminal enterprise that is the thieving Democrat party and its minions. <><><>

The Government filed suit against F/M head Franklin Raines when the depth of the F/M accounting scandal became clear. READ IT HERE http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/

The Government noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner."

These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the mis-stated Fannie Mae profits that Rained created to get bonuses. AFTER he was fired, he walked away with about $90 MILLION in pensions and a catalogue of benefits. Freddie and Fannie---two big quasi-govt mortgage banks that got a federal bailout--- used huge lobbying budgets and political contributions to keep regulators off their backs.

So which politicians get Fannie and Freddie political contributions? The top three U.S. Senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats and number two was then-Senator Barack Obama. who had only been in the Senate four years but still managed to grab the number two spot ahead of John Kerry, decades in the senate, and Chris Dodd then-chairman of the powerful Senate Banking Committee.

Fannie and Freddie were creations of the Congressional Democrats and the Clinton White House, designed to make mortgages available to more people, and as it turned out, some people who couldn’t afford them.

Fannie and Freddie have also been places for big Washington democrats to go to work in the semi-private sector and pocket millions.

The Clinton Administration’s White House budget director Franklin Raines was appointed by Clinton to run Fannie........ and collected $50 million dollars. Jamie Gurilli Gorelick (now BP's attorney), Clinton Justice Apartment Official, worked for Fannie and took home $26 million dollars.

Big Democrat Jim Johnson, recently on Obama’s VP search committee hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae CEO job. Now remember, Obama’s ads and stump speeches attacked McCain and Republican policies for the financial turmoil. It is demonstrably not Republican policy and worse, it appears the man attacking McCain, Senator Obama, was at the head of the line when the piggy’s lined up at the Fannie and Freddie trough for campaign bucks...." - FoxNews, Sept. 2008

McCain spoke forcefully on May 25, 2006, on behalf of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005: "Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives.

In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets.

The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems.

This report came weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

[Liz]

REFERENCE----STATUS CUOMO-GILLIBRAND: Their fingerprints are all over the current depression/recession. ap When NY Gov-elect Cuomo was pointed Housing and Urban Development Secy under Clinton, Cuomo w/ Clinton's approval, was the prime mover behind programs that destabilized Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and his programs to mandate banks loan to low-income and bad-credit homebuyers were a significant factor in the housing collapse.

Congresswoman Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to Andrew Cuomo, Pres Clinton's appointee as Secy of HUD. Gillibrand played a key role in furthering HUD’s Labor Initiative and *New Markets initiative (sub-prime mortgages); Gillibrand worked to strengthen the Davis-Bacon Act and drafting new markets legislation for public and private investment in building infrastructure to revitalize lower income areas across the nation."

"Sure, I know how I got the HUD job. Clinton needed my daddy in his corner,
so I got the HUD job. HUD is where I got the $18 million to run for Governor."

CUOMO AND BILL CLINTON CREATED CONDITIONS FOR MELTDOWN (Village Voice 8-5-08) Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country’s current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the sub-prime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded “kickbacks” to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans.

Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.......

SOURCE http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-05/news/how-andrew-cuomo-gave-birth-to-the-crisis-at-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac/

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

But look at what he says "a qualified, low income..." That tells me it wasn't just an irresponsible handout for votes. And I don't see anything about illegals.

You don't see anything about illegals because you have only read that one quote and have not looked at the totality of Bush's actions during his first term. The primary focus of his first term was to change the banking laws to give Mexican illegal aliens access to the US banking market and visa-versa.

From that same speech, Bush said:

"Three-quarters of white America owns their homes. Less than 50 percent of African Americans are part of the homeownership in America. And less than 50 percent of the Hispanics who live here in this country own their home. And that has got to change for the good of the country. It just does."

Let's repeat that --"Hispanics who live here in this country". Not, Hispanic-Americans or Latino-Americans a la African-Americans, but "Hispanics who live here in this country".

Let's back up to just after Bush's took office.

On February 16, 2001, just 3 weeks after his inauguration, President George W. Bush met with Mexican President Vicente Fox to discuss the terms of the Partnership for Prosperity Agreement (with Mexico). (See: Partnership for Prosperity Agreement (with Mexico))

The P4P agreement was signed on September 6, 2001.

On October 26, 2001, Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 into law. Contained in section 326(b) was the provision that allowed US banks to accept the Mexican Matricula Consular card as valid ID for opening a bank account.

Congress sent a request for opinion to Bush's Treasury Dept. about 326(b). Bush's Treasury responded:

“The proposed rules set forth the requirement that financial institutions would have to establish a customer identification and verification program applicable to all new accounts that are opened, regardless of whether the customer is a U.S. citizen or a foreign national. While the proposed rules prescribe minimum standards for such programs, they leave sufficient flexibility to permit financial institutions to tailor their program to fit their business operations. The customer identification program would have to contain reasonable procedures for identifying any person, including a business, that opens an account, setting forth the type of identifying information that the financial institution will require. At a minimum, for U.S. persons the proposed rules would require financial institutions to obtain the following information: name, address, taxpayer identification number, and, for individuals, date of birth. While a taxpayer identification number is not required for non-U.S. persons, a financial institution must describe what type of information it will require of a non-U.S. person in place of a taxpayer identification number. The regulations state that financial institutions may accept one or more of the following: a U.S. taxpayer identification number; a passport number and country of issuance; an alien identification card number, or the number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard.”

This also contained a footnote (17):

“Thus, the proposed regulations do not discourage bank acceptance of the ‘matricula consular’ identity card that is being issued by the Mexican government to immigrants.” (See: Treasury Department Issues USA PATRIOT Act Report to Congress)

Note that no Mexican banks accept their own government's Matricula Consular card as valid ID for opening a bank account because the bearer's identity is all but untraceable. In contrast, thanks to Bush's Treasury Dept., almost all US banks accept it.

On June 17, 2002, Bush held a press conference. In this press conference he said that by 2010 he wanted to see 5.5 million new 'minority' home owners.

He called on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase commitments to the 'minority' market by $440 billion. (See: President Calls for Expanding Opporunities to Home Ownership)

In response to the mandate contained in the P4P agreement, the New Alliance Task Force was formed in May 2003. (See: New Alliance Task Force)

The NATF is a broad-based coalition of 62 members, including the FDIC, Mexican Consulate, 34 banks, community-based organizations, federal bank regulatory agencies, government agencies, and representatives from the secondary market and private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies.

Their goal was to open the Mexican illegal alien market to US banks and visa-versa using low-cost remittances as the bait. As Bush's 2002 speeches show he was talking about hundreds of billions of U.S. tax dollars going to directly benefit millions of Mexican illegal aliens.

The NATF was organized into four working groups that were tasked with the following goals:

• Financial Education—educates immigrants on the benefits and importance of holding accounts, the credit process, and mainstream banking.
• Bank Products and Services Working Group—encourages banks and thrifts to develop financial service products with remittance features as a strategy to reach the unbanked immigrant community.
• Mortgage Products—created the New Alliance Model Loan Product for potential homeowners who pay taxes using an ITIN.
• Social Projects—provides scholarship funds for immigrant students and fosters economic support for Plazas Comunitarias, a program that will give Mexican citizens an opportunity to finish their high school education.

In June 2004, the FDIC released a report detailing the goals and the progress to date, of the Partnership for Prosperity Agreement (with Mexico)

"During the past several years, bilateral agreements and U.S. banking laws and regulations have facilitated remittance transfers for immigrants and helped bring the unbanked into the formal banking system. For example, in 2001 the United States and Mexico launched the U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity which fosters economic and labor opportunities in less developed parts of Mexico and expands access to capital in Mexico. The Partnership also addresses the high cost of sending money from the United States to Mexico and encourages banking institutions to market accounts that offer remittance features to Mexican workers. In addition, the G-8 countries are promoting programs to alleviate poverty in developing countries, including Latin America.17 These programs facilitate remittances through the formal banking system and, at the same time, attempt to reduce the cost of these transfers."

"In June 2004, in an effort to encourage more banks to enter the remittance market and improve access to the U.S. banking system among recent Latin American immigrants, bank regulatory agencies clarified that financial institutions offering low cost international remittance services would receive credit under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).18 Regulated financial institutions are required under the CRA to serve the convenience and credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income areas. Most remittance senders to Latin America are low- to moderate-income immigrant wage earners who operate outside the formal banking system."

"In addition, a growing number of U.S. banks accept alternative forms of identification to help taxpaying immigrants open bank accounts and secure other banking services; these include the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and foreign government issued identification, such as the Mexican Matricula Consular card. The USA PATRIOT Act allows financial institutions to accept both forms of identification, enabling insured financial institutions to serve unbanked immigrants who live and work in the United States. The ITIN, created by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for foreign-born individuals who are required to file federal tax returns, is a nine-digit number similar to the social security number (SSN) and is issued to individuals who are not eligible for the SSN. The Matricula Consular card is an identification card issued by the Mexican consulate to individuals of Mexican nationality who live in the United States. According to the Mexican government, an estimated 4 million Matricula cards have been issued in the United States."

"As an example of the effectiveness of using this form of identification, Wells Fargo opened more than 400,000 new accounts for Mexican immigrants, using the Matricula Consular card between November 2001 and May 2004. In recent months, Wells Fargo has averaged 22,000 new accounts per month, many of which feature the bank's remittance product.20 For example, the bank offers InterCuenta Express, an account-to-account wire transfer service that charges $8 to transfer up to $3,000 per day directly into a beneficiary's bank account in Mexico. Transfers can be initiated at the bank's branch or ATM in the United States, and the receiving party can access monies via the bank's sizeable remittance distribution network of more than 4,000 banking offices and 10,700 ATMs in Mexico. According to the Mexican government, 178 banks in the United States accept the Matricula Consular card to open bank accounts; 86 of these institutions are in the Midwest."

Keep in mind this is just Wells Fargo and that sub-prime lending would not reach its peak until 2005-2007. This does not include all the other major banks, such as CitiGroup, Bank of America, Chase, Washington Mutual, or the hundreds of other smaller regional banks and lenders who were also taking part in this feeding frenzy.

The IRS says they've issued over 11 million ITINs since its inception. Mexico says they've issued over 5 million Matricula Consular cards.

But, none of this would be workable if ICE was deporting the banks' new customers. Once again, Bush swung into action, hobbling border and interior enforcement.

Worksite arrests of illegal aliens fell some 97 percent, from 2,859 in 1999 to 159 in 2004. Investigations targeting employers of illegal immigrants fell more than 70 percent, from 7,637 in 1997 to 2,194 in 2003. Arrests on job sites fell—precipitously, from 17,554 in 1997 to 445 in 2003. Fines levied for immigration-law violations fell from 778 in 1997 to 124 in 2003. Notices of intent to fine employers fell from 865 in 1997 to just 3 in 2004.

When the USA PATRIOT Act came up for renewal in 2004, some republicans wanted to remove the provision that allowed banks to accept Matricula Consular ID as the consular ID is unreliable.

There is a lot more detail on my FR home page. If you are really interested in the cause of our current economic situation, then the means are available to educate yourself.

If you want the short version, Harvard awarded the FDIC in Chicago their innovations in government award for helping 'integrate' Mexican illegals into the US banking market:

2006 Finalist
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation of Chicago

Award Sponsor
Innovations in American Government Awards

Without access to banking services, even small necessities, like paying rent, incur high costs. For the "unbanked," payments are often made with an expensive cashier's check and paychecks cashed through predatory services that charge high fees. It is difficult and dangerous to save money when it must be kept at home, increasing the incentive to consume and placing the purchase of houses, cars, and even most large appliances out of reach. For 75 percent of Mexican immigrants living in the United States--and nearly one third of immigrants from all Latin American countries--these difficulties are part of daily life.

As in other immigrant communities around the country, the large Hispanic community of Chicago, composed of recent documented and undocumented immigrants, faced such financial problems. Most were without banking services, paying high premiums to predatory financial businesses such as check-cashing services. Then, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stepped in.

The FDIC branch in Chicago initially intended to fulfill one part of the 2001 "Partnership for Prosperity" agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. The agreement urged the U.S. to seek alternatives to the high-cost wire transfers to Mexico that many immigrants used to send money to families back home. Joining with the Mexican Consulate of Chicago, the FDIC created the New Alliance Task Force (NATF).

It was clear to members of the NATF that wire transfers were only the symptom of a larger problem: lack of access to financial services. Drawing on a coalition of 65 people from banks, mortgage industry representatives, community organizations, federal bank oversight agencies, and other government agencies, the NATF sought a comprehensive solution.

Four major working groups targeted specific problems; they addressed access to financial education, bank products and services, mortgage products, and social products. Each group developed specific strategies as well as programs to implement them.

In some cases, these solutions required dramatic change. Many immigrants lacked identification, which is usually required to open up even basic checking accounts. The NATF helped to sell the Matricula Consular card, issued by the Mexican consulate, as a valid form of banking identification. Partner banks began to accept income tax records to substantiate loan applications.

Other solutions employed common sense. Many in the immigrant population were suspicious of both banks and government presence in their lives. The NATF worked to overcome this by positioning bank representatives in the Mexican Consulate. As new immigrants waited in line for their identification cards, they heard about the benefits of banking.

The NATF's comprehensive programs helped nearly 160,000 immigrants to open bank accounts. Many thousands more received financial counseling, mortgage assistance, and other forms of support.

The success in Chicago has already prompted the FDIC to bring the NATF's innovations to other districts. Programs are underway in Charlotte/Raleigh, Boston, Austin, Kansas City and Los Angeles. More FDIC districts are scheduled to adopt similar initiatives.