The Federal Bail Out - Thanks But No Thanks

~Snooper~

Vote this up at Digital Journal please, thanks. (posted there at 2320 hours)

The current financial crisis in the united States is certainly a very ugly situation but why should the American tax payer pay for the sins and the crimes of those that have perpetrated this quagmire? Why is no one calling for the head of Chris Dodd?

And, what does President Bush have to do with it besides the rampant Bush Derangement Syndrome elements trying to make it so? Did President Bush create this mess? Did he? If so, where are the facts to prove it? If there are any, I would like to know what and where they are. If it can be shown and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, I will most assuredly join the building crescendo railing against him.

Alas, that is not to come. Seeing that very few, if any, in the alleged main street media have the moral fortitude to at least try to print facts but print opinion and innuendo and present those as facts, how are we to know? Where are the substantiations of the allegations that the current financial issues can be pinned on GWB?

I went on a fact-finding mission on my own.

Community Reinvestment Act...Under President Carter

[...] The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), enacted by Congress in 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901) and implemented by Regulations 12 CFR parts 25, 228, 345, and 563e, is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate. In this section of the web site, you can find out more about the regulation and its interpretation and information on CRA examinations. [...]

This was designed to stimulate the economy and Lord knows that President Carter needed something. His Administration was rife with double digit inflation, mortgage rates and unemployment. He was also suffering from the war declared on the United States by Iran and his inability to do anything about it until it was seen that he wasn't going to win re-election.

The sub prime debacle, created by the members of the DNC became a contagion for other charlatans that saw a way to reap the benefits of no over sight whatsoever. In 1994, the sub prime market really took off after President Clinton performed his "duty" as a social change engineer in 1992. Everyone thought that loaning money to high risk people was a good idea, including the borrowers. Until the notes came due.

It wasn't the banks that created this mess nor was it evil capitalists. It was Big Government and over time, the creeping and incremental socialism began festering and boiling. Fast forward to 2003.

In the New York Times:

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates. [...]

To the proponents of blaming Bush for everything, spin that. As far back as 2003, President Bush tried to stem the bleeding from mortal wounds that previous Administrations created and caused.

Not surprisingly, the measure was defeated by Democrats in Congress. One can only surmise that they didn't want any of their power to fall under a microscope and having anyone other than them controlling the banking laws and procedures was unacceptable. In other words, no one was going to perform any oversight on those charged with oversight.

[...] ''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said. [END]

I am not quite sure if this is incredible or incredulous. Here a sitting President identified the problem and offered a way to fix the problem before Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac imploded beyond repair and the Democrats - the same Democrats that are now blaming President Bush - said that it was all a shell game.

I wonder what they call it now.

Fast forward to 2005, FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005: John McCain:

[...] I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation. [END]

It was defeated. So, don't tell me that President Bush or John McCain are responsible for the current financial crisis. Any and all that make that asinine assertion is, in my opinion, either disingenuous or a straight out liar. Or, they could have been misled by either of the latter mentioned.

The measure never became law. And now, the ugly head of Mothra has emerged and the Democrats are in panic mode. They cannot be seen as being primarily responsible for this current quagmire self-induced. This is another example of a socialist entitlement program run amok as well as fomenting the fail policy of Identity Politics.

Yes, the mortgage industry is in trouble and as my friend MacsMind so stipulates:

[...] For years there has been gross mismanagement and flat out fraud. Why is there not a criminal investigation being called? Why are we not readying jail cells for all of these corrupt politicians and CEO’s that robbed these GSE’s blind and have now left us liable for a TRILLION dollars in debt? Why are we bailing them out? Certainly not bailing them out would cause massive financial problems for this country and this world - but so what. It would be temporary as the market rights itself. And now there are ramblings of bailing out U.S. automakers. [...]

Take heed, listen and learn:

[...] Warning signals were everywhere. Yet at every turn, Democrats in Congress halted attempts to stop the madness. It happened in 1992, again in 2000, in 2003 and in 2005. It may happen this year, too.

Since 1989, Fannie and Freddie have spent an estimated $140 million on lobbying Washington. They contributed millions to politicians, mostly Democrats, including Senator Chris Dodd (No. 1 recipient) and Barack Obama (No. 3 recipient, despite only three years in office).

The Clinton White House used Fannie and Freddie as a patronage job bank. Former executives and board members read like a who's who of the Clinton-era Democratic Party, including Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson and current Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Collectively, they and others made well more than $100 million from Fannie and Freddie, whose books were cooked Enron-style during the late 1990s and early 2000s to ensure executives got their massive bonuses.

They got the bonuses. You get the bill. [END]

So, who is too blame and what do we do about it? What are the solutions? What, then, is the proper manner in which to settle this in the long run and not the emotional short term?

So many questions and so few viable answers.

Trackposted to Rosemary's Thoughts, Mark My Words, third world county, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, The Pink Flamingo, Cao's Blog, Democrat=Socialist, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.