The entire "first cause" of our current financial fiasco is Fannie Mae and political - not Wall Street greed.
It was caused by K Street and Fannie Mae, not Wall Street and investors.
The problem is that the derivatives created by Fannie Mae (which mixed prime with sub-prime mortgages) have no transparency and are now therefore seen as worthless by the marketplace.
That many large firms on Wall Street and central banks around the world bought these is NOT symptomatic of greed - quite the opposite; they bought these Fannie Mae derivatives because of the inherent backing they got from the US Government, which made them a relatively conservative investment - you see, Fannie Mae has, for all intents and purposes, got a guarantee from the USG because it's a special GSE, and because its so large the markets knew the USG could not let it fail.
That's precisely why Bush - in 2003 - and McCain - in 2005 - proposed that Fannie Mae get much more oversight than Congress was giving it. Bush McCain and th4e GOP was very worried about the "shoddy" bookkeeping at Fannie Mae and the potentially enormous USG liability because Fannie Mae is GSE.
Here's proof of the shoddy bookkeeping at Fannie Mae - from their own website:
Cautionary Note Regarding Certain Previously Reported Financial Results - Investors and others should not rely on annual or quarterly financial information published prior to December 2004. For financial information for 2002, 2003 and 2004, investors and others should instead review and rely on Fannie Mae's 2004 Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on December 6, 2006.2004 is when a Fannie Mae WHISTLEBLOWER -- (a story which The Astute Bloggers posted on at the time! A time when we were VIRTUALLY ALONE!) - let the public know that Fannie Mae was cooking the books so that its executives - ALL LEADING DEMOCRATS (Raines, Gorelick, Johnson) AND ALL DEMOCRAT APPOINTEES - could make MILLIONS!
HERE'S WHERE K STREET COMES IN:
Congress was not giving Fannie Mae the oversight it needed because Fannie Mae was PAYING OFF the Democrats who ran the oversight committees: Dodd, Obama, Kerry, Clinton, Barney Frank et al. ALSO: Leading Democrats like PELOSI AND KERRY had HUGE PERSONAL INVESTMENTS in Fannie Mae, a simple conflict of interest which should have never EVER been allowed to stand.
Merrill and Lehman's acted in good faith when they BOUGHT these derivatives; they were not overcome with "greed"; when AIG insured them they also acted in good faith: all believed that the derivatives were sound.
The corruption lies in WASHINGTON DC not Wall Street.
Fannie Mae and the Democrats in Congress started this whole AVOIDABLE mess.
When Fannie Mae bundled sub-prime mortgages with prime mortgages and the Democrats said "That's okay; don't worry; we'll look the other way". And when it came to making sure Fannie Mae was properly run and not over-extending our commitments THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS DID JUST THAT: they looked the other way and prevented Bush and McCain from reining in Fannie Mae.
Had the Congress been wither GOP or honest, then this crisis would have never happened.
Had the Congress been wither GOP or honest, then this crisis would have never happened.
Had the Congress been wither GOP or honest, then this crisis would have never happened.
Pelosi, Rangel, Frank, Dodd, Kerry and Obama should not only be censured for their roles and their conflicts of interest - they should be charged with corruption and bribery.
The ultimate justice, though, would be for the American electorate to wake up and see the Democrats for what they are and vote them the hell out of Washington!
*******UPDATE: MUST READ: DOUG SPELLS IT ALL OUT AS ONLY DOUG CAN!
BOTTOM-LINE: MY FELLOW DEMOCRATS: WAKE UP!
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