Fannie and Freddie.....

[Bev in B'ville]

I'm very frustrated by the news that Alan Greenspan warned people in 2006 that F&F would lead to economic instability and needed more regulation. John McCain even made a speech on the floor of the Senate in 2006 calling for more regulation of these two organizations (I watched it this morning).

 

Shame on Chuck Schumer who as head of the Banking Oversight Committee personally pocketed millions of dollars from his arrangement with F&F while conveniently overlooking the need for regulation. Shame on the other top two senators who pocketed millions of dollars at the taxpayers expense. Who are these top two? Obama (#2) and John Kerry (#3). Shame on them for putting their personal pocketbooks ahead of our country's best interest.

 

Shame on Obama for trying to blame McCain for this problem when Obama is the one who has gained financially from lack of oversight. McCain did not earn one red cent from F&F.

 

I can't believe the situation they've put us in as we read about another major financial institution failing this morning (WaMu).

 

As always, just my musings.

[hsmamainva]

John McCain has received money from Fannie & Freddie.

 

I'll cut and paste a snippet:

 

In the current election cycle, Sen. McCain has received $169,000 from the mortgage companies and their affiliates. Two of the top contributors -- Freddie Mac's board member Geoffrey T. Boisi and Fannie Mae lobbyist Richard F. Hohlt -- are listed on McCain's Web site as bundlers who've raised between $100,000-$250,000 for McCain. (A sidebar in the Times lists McCain's top donors connected to the mortgage companies.)

 

McCain's campaign also has a few more direct connections with the companies. For example, the Times notes that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, was also previously "head of the Homeownership Alliance, a coalition of banks and housing industry interests led by Fannie and Freddie to stave off regulations."

 

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama has received $122,850 from the Fannie and Freddie's employees and PACs since coming in office. Even though Obama has only been in the Senate since 2005, only one other colleague, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT), has received more from the same source over the past decade

The entire article can be read here:

 

http://www.propublica.org/article/fannie-freddie-gave-big-support-to-obama-mccain-910/

[Bev in B'ville]

in receiving money from the companies for campaign funds and receiving personal money.

 

Here's another side of the issue:

 

"Lehman Brothers collapse is traced back to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage banks that got a federal bailout a few weeks ago.

Freddie and Fannie used huge lobbying budgets and political contributions to keep regulators off their backs.

 

A group called the Center for Responsive Politics keeps track of which politicians get Fannie and Freddie political contributions. The top three U.S. senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats and No. 2 is Sen. Barack Obama.

 

Now remember, he's only been in the Senate four years, but he still managed to grab the No. 2 spot ahead of John Kerry — decades in the Senate — and Chris Dodd, who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

 

Fannie and Freddie have been creations of the congressional Democrats and the Clinton White House, designed to make mortgages available to more people and, as it turns 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 ran Fannie and collected $50 million. Jamie Gorelick — Clinton Justice Department official — worked for Fannie and took home $26 million. Big Democrat Jim Johnson, recently on Obama's VP search committee, has hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae CEO job.

 

Now remember: Obama's ads and stump speeches attack McCain and Republican policies for the current financial turmoil. It is demonstrably not Republican policy and worse, it appears the man attacking McCain — Sen. Obama — was at the head of the line when the piggies lined up at the Fannie and Freddie trough for campaign bucks.

 

Sen. Barack Obama: No. 2 on the Fannie/Freddie list of favored politicians after just four short years in the Senate."

 

 

Obviously, our sources disagree on who received the most money and the exact dollar amount. However, a picture (or in this case, a video) is worth a thousand words. Seeing McCain calling for more oversight and regulation in 2006 proves that Obama's attack on McCain as being either partly or wholly responsible for this is completely false.

 

According to the website above (a non-partisan website) McCain has only received $6550 from Fannie Mae for his campaign compared to Obama's $80,169.

[Jean too]

That wasn't their first warning either.

http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306632135350949

 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/17/mccains-attempt-to-fix-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-in-2005/

 

Contributors:

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

[Mama Lynx]

THey had PLENTY of warning. For YEARS.