Free Republic

IMF welcomes US rescue plan for Fannie, FreddiePosted: 25 July 2008 0152 hrs WASHINGTON : The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed the US government's plans to aid mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ease the housing crisis. "The announced measures on Fannie and Freddie go in the right direction and are consistent with approaches that the Fund has supported," IMF spokesman David Hawley said at a news conference. "And we agree that public sector intervention is warranted, accompanied by improved supervision." His comments in response to a question came a day after a wide-ranging housing rescue...

Henry Paulson is about to be given an $800 BILLION dollar blank check in the form of an increased Federal Debt Ceiling which he can spend on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac IN ANY WAY HE CHOOSES, INCLUDING BUYING THE CRAPPIEST LOANS THEY HAVE AND STICKING A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT LOSS, $800 BILLION WORTH, ON YOUR TAX BILL. A huge percentage of the debt issued by Freddie and Fannie - about $1.5 trillion worth - is held by foreign central banks. Paulson is proposing to bail out the Chinese and Japanese governments with our tax money! Paulson SAYS he will...

This letter of mine appears in today's edition of the Washington Times: Upset that Virginians' taxes were not recently raised to construct more roads, State Delegate Brian J. Moran, Alexandria and Fairfax Democrat, declares that "Government has an important role to play in strengthening our infrastructure, developing our economy and creating new jobs" ("Virginia's transportation conundrum," Op-Ed, Tuesday). Not so fast. Infrastructure that we today naively suppose must be supplied by government has in the past often been supplied by the private sector - supplied so well, indeed, that these private-infrastructure projects helped to spark the Industrial Revolution in 18th-century...

Making a Federal Case by: Emily Ham, July 24, 2008 In a study documenting the total number of federal crimes within United States law, researchers have found that there has been a major increase in the definition of such offenses since the founding of the nation in 1776. “When the country started, there were basically three crimes: piracy, counterfeiting and treason,” said former Attorney General Edwin Meese, “At the time of our [1998] report, there were some 4,000 crimes.” Meese, who now serves as chairman of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, noted that while two centuries...

STUART VARNEY, GUEST HOST: A live look at Capitol Hill, House members inside, right now, voting on that $300 billion housing bail-out bill — the president saying, today, he will sign it, even though Democrats tacked billions onto it. My next guest voting against it. Ron Paul is a Republican congressman from Texas. Congressman, good to have you with us. Thanks for being here. REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Thank you. Thank you. Nice to be with you. VARNEY: OK. Now, you'll vote against it. OK. You don't like this thing. We understand it. But the argument is that, if...

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate two bills that could give the federal government unprecedented control over the way parents raise their children – even providing funds for state workers to come into homes and screen babies for emotional and developmental problems. The Pre-K Act (HR 3289) and the Education Begins at Home Act (HR 2343) are two bills geared toward military and families who fall below state poverty lines. The measures are said to be a way to prevent child abuse, close the achievement gap in education between poor and minority infants versus middle-class children and...

If you want to know how out of touch Congress is on the issue of wasteful spending, listen to Florida Rep. John Mica defend his pork projects: "There's no way in hell I would support banning earmarks. That's our job, getting elected and making decisions." Mr. Mica is the most powerful Republican on the Transportation Committee. The idea that bringing home federal dollars is integral to a politician's job and essential to getting re-elected is a favorite of Republicans and Democrats alike. Three months ago, Hillary Clinton told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, "I'm very proud of my earmarks. It's one...

President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, exhorted the nation: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.” This rally to selflessness has been trampled upon by a new class that has sprung up over the past 20 years or so. We are all familiar with environmentalists, but their influence is in danger of being surpassed by the “entitlementalists,” the new breed of Americans who have made taking what their country can ill afford to offer and offering not half...

One in ten households in England and Wales will fall into "water poverty" under plans to introduce meters for every home in Britain, a consumer group has warned. Millions of families, already suffering from rising food and fuel costs, face soaring bills, with some left up to £200 a year worse off by the Government plans, according to The Consumer Council for Water. Currently water companies can introduce "pay as you flow" meters in areas that are at a high risk of drought. The Government had long-term plans to introduce them into other areas by 2030. However a Government report...

NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said it may cut its ratings on Washington Mutual Inc.'s senior unsecured debt into junk territory, after the largest U.S. savings and loan posted a $3.33 billion second-quarter loss. The net loss equaled $6.58 per share as souring mortgages forced it to set aside more money for loan losses. "WaMu's asset quality issues primarily relate to the company's residential mortgage portfolio, but deterioration is also being experienced in the company's credit card portfolio," Moody's said in a statement. "To establish the necessary provisioning for this asset quality deterioration, Moody's...

California, six other Western states and four Canadian provinces launched plans on Wednesday for one of the world's largest carbon-trading systems, a sweeping effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The North American program, like a similar market-based system in Europe, focuses on heavy polluters such as electric utilities, oil refineries and large industrial and commercial facilities. Environmental groups immediately questioned whether the plan will be tough enough on polluters, while industry groups said the program lacks details. California officials said the proposal will be an integral part of the Golden State's ambitious goal of reducing...

SACRAMENTO — Resurrecting negotiations between Vallejo employee unions and city negotiators could be the next step in Vallejo's Chapter 9 bankruptcy saga, attorneys for the city and unions agreed Wednesday. The attorneys disagreed, however, on what that move would mean for Vallejo's future. Opening arguments on Vallejo's bankrupt status were heard in U.S. Bankruptcy Court before Chief Justice Michael McManus on Wednesday. McManus must first decide if the city meets the criteria for bankruptcy before considering voiding employee union contracts, set to expire in June 2010. The city filed for bankruptcy protection May 23, with the unanimous backing of the...

A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some … locals are beginning to hoard supplies." Now there's concern that the U.S. government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food. "We're told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers. Spokesman Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of...

Lots of people love venerable Tiger Stadium. Few love it more than I do. I attended hundreds of Detroit Tigers games there – from the day in 1975 when I saw Hank Aaron just miss a home run as a Milwaukee Brewer, to the day in 1999 when Todd Jones, the Tigers’ closer then and now, struck out Carlos Beltran to finish off the Kansas City Royals and close the door on Tiger Stadium’s tenure as home of my favorite team. But just because people love it doesn’t mean it’s a priority of the nation to preserve it. Don’t try...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The House on Wednesday voted 272-152 to pass sweeping legislation that will offer up to $300 billion in assistance to troubled homeowners and throw government support behind mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The nearly 700-page measure will now go back to the Senate, where final passage is expected. But it's not clear when the vote will occur because of a Republican filibuster threat. -snip-

Gold Drops 4% to Hit Two-Week Low as Dollar Bounces, Oil Sinks, Bear-Market Rally in Stocks Continues -- Posted Wednesday, 23 July 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com London Gold Market Report from Adrian Ash THE PRICE OF PHYSICAL Gold dumped another $12 per ounce Wednesday morning in London, falling more than 4% from yesterday's four-session high. World stock markets continued their sharp rally, meantime, with Europe's 300 largest shares just climbing out of the 20% bear-market loss that hit between Nov. and June. Crude oil fell towards $126 per barrel. The US Dollar pushed the Euro down...

The Fed's "beige book," a roundup of reports from the 12 regional Fed banks released every six weeks, shows economic activity is weak across most of the U.S. and companies are increasingly worried about growth in the coming months. Despite the $107 billion in economic-stimulus checks that have been doled out to millions of Americans since late April, the report said consumer spending was reported as mixed, weak or slowing in nearly all districts. In the Philadelphia region, for example, "despite what one store executive termed 'very large markdowns' on many types of merchandise, total sales have fallen below the...

California, six other Western states and four Canadian provinces will launch a market-based carbon trading system in a major North American effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, according to a draft proposal released today. When it officially begins in four years, the program would first target heavy polluters such as electric utilities, oil refineries and large industrial and commercial facilities, which would be required to begin reporting emission levels beginning in 2011 to allow participating governments to agree on the maximum level of emissions for the region. The plan also includes an offsets system, part of...

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre said on Wednesday he had filed a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and its Countrywide unit to prevent the mortgage lenders from foreclosing on homes in his city, which he aims to make a "foreclosure sanctuary."

July 23, 2008, 1:00 a.m. Our Government Problem-SolversAt election time, pols can't help but "do something" — even if it makes matters worse. By Thomas Sowell We don’t look to arsonists to help put out fires but we do look to politicians to help solve financial crises that they played a major role in creating. How did the government help create the current financial mess? Let me count the ways. In addition to federal laws that pressure lenders to lend to people they would not otherwise lend to, and in places where they would otherwise not invest, state and...

25 signs of insolvency. ... And what can't be paid back will be defaulted on. If you didn't know it before, you do now: The entire US banking system is insolvent.

JONESBORO, Maine - When John Cox heard about plans to turn 87 miles of inactive rail bed in Washington and Hancock counties into public trails, he hoped someone would start a petition against it.

After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought $85 million worth of basic personal and household goods for the storm's victims. For at least two years, FEMA warehoused it all — towels, shirts, pants, shoes, coffee makers, pillowcases, dinnerware, plastic food containers, cleaning supplies, etc. — at a cost to taxpayers of an additional $2 million-plus. Throughout that period, nonprofit relief agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama made repeated public pleas for donations of those sorts of items. "You would have to be living under a rock not to know there is still a need," said Cass Woods of...

Why is Congress so unpopular? Because it is often intent upon doing things that will make life in America much worse. The most important example is continued blockage of access to America's energy resources. No new nuclear power plants have been permitted in decades; no new oil refineries; no additional drilling off the coast of Alaska, California, Florida or parts of the Gulf of Mexico where there are huge amounts of useable energy; and continuing opposition to building liquefied natural gas facilities.

I recount all this now because it illustrates the perverse nature of Fannie and Freddie that has made them such a relentless and untouchable political force. Their unique clout derives from a combination of liberal ideology and private profit. Fannie has been able to purchase political immunity for decades by disguising its vast profit-making machine in the cloak of "affordable housing." To be more precise, Fan and Fred have been protected by an alliance of Capitol Hill and Wall Street, of Barney Frank and Angelo Mozilo. I know this because for more than six years I've been one of their...

WASHINGTON — A housing bill aimed at giving the U.S. economy a shot in the arm appears to be on track for passage after the White House announced President Bush will not block the package, despite his objections to a $3.9 billion provision providing money to some hard-hit neighborhoods. The House is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday and pass it onto the Senate. But the bill won't move ahead without a hitch -- albeit one not likely to derail it: Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., vowed Wednesday to filibuster the bill because of the neighborhood provision once the legislation...

Fannie Mae acquired twice as many homes through foreclosure in the first quarter as it sold, regulatory filings show. ... Late payments on the company's home loans, a harbinger of foreclosures, almost doubled in the past year. Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. mortgage finance companies, owned a record $6.9 billion of forelosed homes on March 31, compared with $8.56 billion held by all 8,500 U.S. commercial banks and savings and loans...

This Governor is in the habit of rolling out Judicial appointments in big batches. Until this week, his last batch of new Judges was announced back in May -- twenty of them. I have made no bones about that fact that it is galling to me that the Governor, who was elected with all of the support of the Republican Party, loves to appoint registrants of the party of Barack Obama to the bench. In that May batch, it was 9 Republicans and 8 Democrats. It is a very sad situation for GOP donors and activists that we have to...

Alaska Senate leaders want an investigation of whether Gov. Sarah Palin pressured and then fired the public safety commissioner because he wouldn't get rid of a state trooper who had gone through a bitter divorce with Palin's sister. "I'm fairly confident at this point that what we're going to see is the appointment of an independent investigator," said Anchorage Democratic Sen. Hollis French, chairman of the judiciary committee. Palin denied any wrongdoing Monday and said she welcomed an investigation. "I've said all along, hold me accountable," Palin told reporters in Juneau. "And I'm telling the truth when I say that...

Senators when they place a hold upon various bills. A hold is really a threat to filibuster. With up to six separate opportunities to filibuster any bill, a hold is a powerful tool to force the Senate to take due consideration of each and every Senator's concerns. "It's difficult to work around a Senator. Ultimately, it's a cloture vote. It's very time-consuming, and you can't do that on most issues," Maryland Senator Ben Cardin told THE POLITICO newspaper. Before the August recess, the Senate is expected to consider a proposal by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) which would make...

...Fan and Fred also couldn't prosper for as long as they have without the support of the political left, both in Congress and the intellectual class. This includes Mr. Frank and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Capitol Hill, as well as Mr. Krugman and the Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein in the press. Their claim is that the companies are essential for homeownership. Yet as studies have shown, about half of the implicit taxpayer subsidy for Fan and Fred is pocketed by shareholders and management. According to the Federal Reserve, the half that goes to homeowners adds up to a...

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate leaders have largely hammered out a compromise deal on a mammoth housing package that would permit the government to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an emergency, overhaul supervision of the housing-finance giants and allow the government to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages. The deal comes after tense negotiations and is likely to remain a source of contention when the House of Representatives votes Wednesday. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that a temporary measure to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost the government as much as...

The government watchdog group known as Judicial Watch recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, for that agency’s failure to turn over certain documents related to the prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean… The suit comes after the government refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents which detailed the agreement made between the governments of Mexico and the United States, which allowed drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila to return to this country to actually testify against Ramos and Compean. The FOIA request was filed by Judicial Watch on April 17, 2008. The...

Angelo Mozilo was in one of his Napoleonic moods. It was October 2003, and the CEO of Countrywide Financial was berating me for The Wall Street Journal's editorials raising doubts about the accounting of Fannie Mae. I had just been introduced to him by Franklin Raines, then the CEO of Fannie, whom I had run into by chance at a reception hosted by the Business Council, the CEO group that had invited me to moderate a couple of panels. ....... I've thought about that episode more than once recently amid the meltdown and government rescue of Fannie and its sibling,...

Caltrans announced Tuesday its preferred method for improving the 405-101 freeway interchange, which the agency says is one of the busiest in the world. But don't get too excited. The agency also says that it doesn't have the money to design or build the project, which is expected to cost about $135 million. Still, this is one of those classic bottlenecks, and understanding why it doesn't work helps explain a lot of other bottlenecks on Southern California freeways. The big problem is that entrance and exit ramps have been placed too close to one another. The particular issue on the...

I attach a link to a very URGENT video for you to watch regarding a bailout bill that will be passed either tomorrow or the next day by Congress. It also includes an invitation to a protest scheduled for 31 July where you can tell Congress that you don't support this bailout http://www.FedUpUSA.org/ You can read about the details of the bill at Bloomberg. Unless you act by calling your Representative, Senators and the White House tomorrow, this bill will become law of the land and will hand unelected officials the ability to write checks to the tune of 800...

Brought to you by none other than Baghdad Jim McDermott (D-WTF?). I must’ve done something truly horrible in a former lifetime to be sentenced to live in this guy’s district. The proposed legislation is to create a new program along the lines of the federal food stamp program. The press release and proposed bill is here. Some highlights: “Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, introduced legislation today to provide financial assistance to vulnerable Americans struggling to survive under crushing gasoline prices.” “The Emergency Gasoline Assistance Act (H.R. 6561) would...

When he talks about why the economy is ailing, President Bush often turns to euphemism, citing “challenges in the housing and financial markets.” But Mr. Bush offered a far blunter assessment last week at a closed Republican fund-raiser in Houston: “Wall Street got drunk.” Despite the president’s request that those present turn their cameras off, his comments were captured on videotape that made its way into the hands of Miya Shay, a reporter at the Houston television affiliate of ABC. The video, which also included the newsy tidbit that Laura Bush had begun shopping for houses in Dallas, was broadcast...

Lawmakers Reach Deal On Big Housing Package Bill Includes Relief For Fannie, Freddie; Tense Negotiations By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN and DAMIAN PALETTA July 23, 2008 WASHINGTON -- House and Senate leaders have largely hammered out a compromise deal on a mammoth housing package that would permit the government to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an emergency, overhaul supervision of the housing-finance giants and allow the government to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages. The deal comes after tense negotiations and is likely to remain a source of contention when the House of Representatives votes Wednesday. The...

I don't often start threads here, but this is IMPORTANT!! They're going to vote on this package tommorrow. The cost for bailing out Fannie, Freddie, and fools who got into mortgages they couldn't afford is going to be on OUR BACKS. Paulson, Dodd and others (bought and paid for by the investment banks and financial industry) are trying to shove this through ASAP. If this passes it will probably tank the bond market and the dollar, drive up interest rates as our debt becomes unpalatable to the rest of the world, and load even more debt on an already bankrupt...

We don't look to arsonists to help put out fires but we do look to politicians to help solve financial crises that they played a major role in creating. How did the government help create the current financial mess? Let me count the ways. In addition to federal laws that pressure lenders to lend to people they would not otherwise lend to, and in places where they would otherwise not invest, state and local governments have in various parts of the country so severely restricted building as to lead to skyrocketing housing prices, which in turn have led many people...

Before July 15, Senator Jim Bunning was probably best known to Wall Streeters of a certain age as a Hall of Famer who pitched a pair of no-hitters during a major league baseball career that ran from 1955 to 1971. That changed in a hurry, however, when the Republican from Kentucky last week delivered some chin music to three of the government's top financial watchdogs. Bunning grilled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Chairman Christopher Cox of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Senate Banking Committee hearings on financial market developments and regulatory responses. From his...

Sen. Tom Coburn spoke on the floor for more than an hour Monday evening to protest the plan by Majority Leader Harry Reid to call up — possibly during the weekend — a yet-to-be-unveiled package of smaller measures held up by the Oklahoma Republican’s opposition.

Welcome to the conservative's worse nightmare: The law of unintended consequences. Why? Nobody wants to admit it, folks, but the conservatives' grand ideology is backfiring, actually turning the world's greatest capitalistic democracy into the world's newest socialist economy. A little history: The core principles of conservative economic ideology are grounded in Nobel economist Milton Friedman's 1962 classic "Capitalism and Freedom." Too late to stop President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, those principles became the battle cries energizing conservatives since Reagan: Unrestricted free markets, free enterprise and free trade; deregulation, privatization and globalization; trickle-down economics and trickle-up wealth to an elite plutocracy...

A fortuneteller is suing Montgomery County after he learned he would not be allowed to open a shop in Bethesda because the county bans the business of forecasting the future. Attorneys for Nick Nefedro, previously of Key West, Fla., say county officials violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and discriminated against his “Roma,” or Gypsy, culture when they refused to give him a business license. Montgomery code dating back to the early 1950s prohibits collecting cash for predicting the future. “The underlying purpose is to prevent people from being taken advantage of, because it’s a scam,” Clifford Royalty,...

The Sen. John McCain campaign launched a new Web video titled "Obama Love" that takes a swipe at the perceived media bias towards Barack Obama. According to the campaign e-mail, the video "highlights the media's love affair with Barack Obama -- or as MSNBC's Chris Matthews says, that thrill going up my leg." Played to the tune of Frankie Valli's "Can't take my eyes off of you" -- one of Valli's most popular songs. Perhaps, it will turn out to be a hit for McCain as well.

Tonight ABC aired their interview with Sen. Barack Obama with correspondent Terry Moran conducting; here is a clip of the segment that ran on ABC's World News Tonight: Moran: If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge? Obama: No. Because, keep in mind that -- Moran: You wouldn't?

In one of those front-page editorials disguised as "news" stories, the New York Times blames "the lucrative lending practices" of banks and other financial institutions for helping create the current financial crisis of millions of borrowers and of the financial system in general. It must take either a willful determination to believe whatever they want to believe or a cynical desire to propagandize their readers for the New York Times to call "lucrative" the lending practices that have caused many lenders to lose millions of dollars, some to lose billions and some to go bankrupt themselves. Blaming the lenders is...

In one of those front-page editorials disguised as "news" stories, the New York Times blames "the lucrative lending practices" of banks and other financial institutions for helping create the current financial crisis of millions of borrowers and of the financial system in general. It must take either a willful determination to believe whatever they want to believe or a cynical desire to propagandize their readers for the New York Times to call "lucrative" the lending practices that have caused many lenders to lose millions of dollars, some to lose billions and some to go bankrupt themselves. Blaming the lenders is...

The New York Times really has a peculiar relationship with Sen. John McCain. They began the year by endorsing him for the Republican nomination but the love didn't last long -- weeks later they headlined with a controversial story saying that McCain had engaged in an extra-martial affair with a lobbyist. What made that story worse is that they led it with the premise that McCain had an inappropriate affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman nine years ago but they failed to back that up in the story. The story was loaded with innuendo, unnamed sources and a resurrection of the...