It is a common theme among Republicans on crack. Fannie and Freddie, two institutions designed to help poor people, are the reason for this crises today… Both Fannie and Freddie, more supportive of Democrats than Republicans made good scapegoats in the Republican’s attempts so shift the blame away from themselves…
They needed to. Heaven help the Republican Party if the world found out that McCain’s former financial adviser, Phil Gramm was the person responsible for unleashing the black hole of collapse we see today…
Fannie and Freddie lost 14 billion. The global economy lost 2.4 trillion. That’s chump change. You see the real problem and the Wall Street Journal which up until now has always defended Republican positions, (even to the point of still denying that global warming is a problem), says it flat out: This episode was caused by Republican deregulation and Republican budgeting down of manpower in those few regulatory agencies left. The Wall Street Journal firmly fingers Republican laissez faire attitudes as the reason there is no money…
Both Fannie and Freddie are currently holding their values much higher than any of those other banks who contributed heavily to the Republican party’s coffers..
So if either Christine O’Donnell, Frank Knotts, Rick Jensen, David Anderson, or WGMD hosts try to blame democrats on their next post or talk show, call in and remind them….”That’s not what the Wall Street Journal said….” They said it was the Republican’s fault… (seriously, … they did… it’s right here….)
kavips 
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 16, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Mike Protack
This mess is a lot like Katrina, errors at every level. Key point, you can’t have deregulation and ignore oversight.
October 16, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Tom S.
“It is a common theme among Republicans on crack.”
And economists…….
“Fannie and Freddie lost 14 billion. The global economy lost 2.4 trillion.”
Does that 14 billion figure include that damage caused by the toxic sub-prime mortgage backed securities that the democratic congress allowed Freddie and Fannie to dump onto the market with half the usual equity? Does that figure include the loss of confidence in the stock markets that was triggered by the mortgage crisis? Does that figure include the business potential that we are losing every day with decreased liquidity?
“The Wall Street Journal firmly fingers Republican laissez faire attitudes as the reason there is no money…”
-“”That’s nonsense,” said Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Financial Services Committee”
Says the D congressman from Massachussetts
-“But “they weren’t the leaders in lowering credit standards,” said Andrew Davidson, a mortgage industry consultant in New York who has done work for Fannie and Freddie”
Says some guy who worked for Freddie and Fannie
This article didn’t pin the blame on for Freddie and Fannie on anyone, nor absolve it from responsibility in the crisis, it just quoted folks from both sides blaming each other and explored the cases both of them have. Did you miss the part at the end? This part:
“The Reagan administration occasionally called for “privatizing” Fannie and Freddie by ending the close relationship with the government that allows them to borrow money at relatively low interest rates…….”They beat us politically,” says Lawrence Kudlow, who was an associate budget director in the Reagan White House.”
jeez, talk about reading what you want to read
October 17, 2008 at 5:25 am
kavips
Your last statement….”jeez, talk about reading what you want to read. has some merit in today’s society.
As of now in just WordPress blogs alone, 36,032,072 words have peen published just today alone… so the answer to your statement is “yes..” to some extent we all read just what we want to read……
Since one person cannot read 36,032,072 words in one day, it is the civic duty of every reader, if they have an opinion differing from that of the poster, to log it…..
Then others can see both viewpoints side by side and draw their own conclusions….
Sincerely,
Thank you for your contribution.
October 17, 2008 at 5:31 am
kavips
MikeP, if I could add to your wise statement above……”and run a government solely on credit.”
October 17, 2008 at 5:50 am
kavips
Tom in case you were not clear on the initial post, the Fannie and Freddie mess were indeed mismanaged and in need of tighter regulations… But the original error has mushroomed because of the deregulation of the securities industry by Phil Gramm, who is considered to be the personification of evil in today’s modern world…..
Perhaps a metaphor might better explain it.. If you had a car whose license was expired and considered driving it, you would be breaking the law…
But if you chose to use that car to create your own demolition derby, by driving the wrong way up 95, purposefully crashing into every vehicle containing small children, very few would express outrageous indignation that you had done so in an unregistered vehicle. You would be in much, much, more hot water….
To make clear to those other Republicans on crack: the expired license represents Fannie and Freddie, and the willful mayhem on 95 represents effusive Republican sponsored greed unleashed by Phil Gramm.
Now which of the two actions is more culpable?
lol