Free Republic

Of all the things you could say about Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), too-strict lending standards probably wouldn't come to mind. Afterall, the companies have been backstopped to the tune of $400 billion, which has to mean their standards were too loose. But powerful Congressman Barney Frank, in a desperate attempt to reflate the old bubble, says the two GSEs are being too stingy, particularly with respect to condos. WSJ: Fannie and Freddie have restricted loans to condo buyers in these situations because they represent a red flag that the developments -- many of which were planned and...

Steve Sailer dusts of this Realty Times article reminding us that President Bush's program to increase minority home ownership relied heavily upon the generosity of Fannie and Freddie. Sailer asks, "By the way, do you ever get the feeling that historians will someday look back on the Bush-Obama years as a single era?"

A Barney Frank for Congress 2008 ad...Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF0U-si6ZSg

Was the current economic situation caused by too little government intervention in the financial markets—or too much? I'd say the latter. Washington used Fannie/Freddie as a political piggy bank, causing it dole out loans to people who had no business receiving them. And because Freddie and Fannie's obligations enjoyed the implicit guarantee of the federal government, they were able to obtain funds at lower rates and become by far the biggest dog on Mortgage Street. That in turn caused private-sector banks to lower their lending standards in order to be able to compete. Throw in the Community Reinvestment Act, another...

During the, "Turmoil in the Financial Markets, Panel 1, hearings on AIG," Rep Chris Shays followed up his comments yesterday about Democrats refusal to investigate Fannie and Freddie, calling them the, "Toxic Twins," which should be the center of the investigation, not an afterthought. "We can't wait until Halloween to investigate these two failed monsters," he said. He also goes into detail on the accounting fraud and money Raines made while CEO. Link is C-SPAN video of Shays' remarks.

Yesterday during a meeting of the House Committee Oversight and Government Reform, Review of Lehman Brothers Finances, Panel 1, Congressman Christopher Shays blasted Congress for their role in the Financial meltdown and blasted Waxman and the Democrats for not investigating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the role they played in starting the Crisis. He then lists all the Republican attempts to reform FM/FM that were blocked by Democrats. Skip ahead to 2:09 (near the end) to hear his remarks

Explosive Audio Unearthed: After the Sub Prime Crisis already started in 2007 Obama says Sub Prime Mortgages that gave houses to people WHO COULDN'T AFFORD THEM was a GOOD IDEA!! Even as it was destroying our economy Obama thinks giving people mortgages who couldn't afford them was a good idea. Then he says spreading the bad debt throughout the financial system was good "in theory"

Presidential Debate, Sept. 26,2008 "Obama:...Two years ago, I warned that, because of the subprime lending mess, because of the lax regulation, that we were potentially going to have a problem and tried to stop some of the abuses in mortgages that were taking place at the time. Last year, I wrote to the secretary of the Treasury to make sure that he understood the magnitude of this problem and to call on him to bring all the stakeholders together to try to deal with it." Source: http://cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/26/debate.mississippi.transcript

Why did McCain pass up the golden opportunity to educate the nation about Obama and the Democraps deep involvement in the collapse of Fannie & Freddie?? He knows if that mess were Republicans fault, every newscast and front page would be screaming out every detail and demanding resignations. While the economy may not be McCains strong point, this debate with the current situation and the $700B bailout proposal is a perfect opportunity to implicate Obama and his cohorts to significantly weaken their supposed strength in the handling the economy. The audience for this debate was the largest he will address...

A September 11, 2003 New York Times article shows that President Bush proposed “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.” His proposal: An agency within the Treasury Department to supervise mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fearing that mortgages would no longer be available to people who were unable to pay them back, Democrats eventually killed the proposal. The current meltdown in the mortgage industry is a direct result of giving mortgages to people who could not pay them back, a practice protected by Congressional Democrats.