CAPITALISM DID NOT FAIL US

GOVERNMENT FAILED US

Roots of the crisis: Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae

“Enabling these institutions to increase in size . . . we are placing the total financial system of the future at substantial risk.”

Testimony of Fed Chairman Greenspan, 2.17.05, before the House Financial Services Committee.

Barney Frank and the Democrats were warned over and over for years that mismanagement at Freddie and Fannie, left unchecked, would throw our financial system into chaos and crisis.

Barney Frank said Freddie and Fannie were “fundamentally sound financially.”  He knew it was a lie.  “And even if there was a problem . . . the federal government doesn’t bail them out.”  Really? 

September, 2008, Reuters:  The immediate reaction to the U.S. government’s commitment of up to $200 billion to support the two giant mortgage lenders, which together back about half the country’s $12 trillion in mortgages, was positive.

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and the Democrats ignored serial warnings and resisted numerous efforts to reform, and so, here we are.

Republicans tried over and over, Democrats cutoff all warnings, efforts to reform  SHOCKING VIDEO REPORT HERE

And what is the response of this Administration? More of the same: tax, spend, rig the economy with government domination and interference, bailouts, social engineering, repudiation of sound business practices.

One is left to conclude one of two things: either this Administration is woefully ignorant and accidentally taking us to hell, as many European leaders are now saying, or this economic devastation is being encouraged purposefully in order to destroy economic freedom and centralize all power in D.C.

Either way, it is criminal.

[ECONOMY IN PERSPECTIVE: an historical overview]

The Seduction of Insanity by Gary Graham

ABSOLUTE MUST READ

EXCERPT:

“What I won’t do…is return to the failed policies of the last 8 years…that got us into this crisis in the first place.” – Barack Obama, Feb 9, 2009  

Even though Congress was controlled by the Democrats from 2006-2008, I am going to go out on a limb here, and assume that the president is talking about failed Republican policies.  (Is that a fairly safe bet, you think?) 

REALITY CHECK!  Mr. Obama has been so busy concentrating on his campaign, his transition, and now his consolidation of power, that he apparently slept through the economic meltdown, so out of touch is he with what caused it.  Earth to President Obama:  It wasn’t the ‘failed’ Republican policies that took us to this point.  What caused bank failures and the economic meltdown was the failure of the housing market which itself was caused by banks being forced to give out bad housing loans.  That gem of irresponsibility, the Community Reinvestment Act (introduced and enacted by Jimmy Carter and the Democrat Congress and later bolstered by Bill Clinton) literally forced banks to abandon prudent fiscal policy and instead, hand out loans to people who otherwise could not qualify to buy a home.  And Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac were right there leading the charge.  Not to sound ‘partisan’ or anything, but the people running these two Government Sponsored Enterprises:  yep … Democrats. 

 Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner came on TV this morning, and told us ‘how we got here.’ His explanation sounded somewhat logical … but conspicuously missing was any mention of the above involvement of the Democrats forcing Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae to give out bad loans.  That’s like trying to explain how an internal combustion engine works, and failing to mention anything about gas fumes igniting and expanding within a closed cylinder. 

What Geithner left out in his address this morning was that George Bush, Alan Greenspan, John McCain and the Republicans in Congress, fearful that unsafe fiscal practices by Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae could lead to economic disaster, attempted to establish oversight on these GSE’s, but were rebuffed by … Democrats.  Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, Charlie Rangel, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, et al.  Anyone who isn’t aware of this hasn’t been paying attention.  The Democrats, not the Republicans, are responsible for fomenting the economic conditions that lead to the housing bubble bursting.

Also missing in Mr. Geithner’s speech was any mention of monies paid out by Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, six-figure sums, to Democrats Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, and John Kerry.  And payments for what?  Cooperation incentives?  ‘Performance’ bonus.  Hush money?  What? 

And another thing:  Geithner said the root cause of the meltdown was individuals and businesses borrowing funds they couldn’t pay back.  And so the solution proposed is … to borrow and spend even more money, at an unprecedented rate — and not gradually, but aggressively? 

Clearly, the lunatics have taken over the nuthouse.

ENTIRE, BRILLIANT COLUMN HERE

The price of an Obama White House

Age And Experience: Carter’s Catastrophes

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=305938528597493

“Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the citizens that Democrats always claim to help most — inner-city residents who fell victim to low or no down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive loan applications and commission-hungry salespeople.  Now we’re having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very agencies that were supposed to stabilize the system. In time, this should improve the situation. But the party of Carter and Clinton that midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take over and have the government run our entire system of health care!”

Democrats to Blame for Financial Collapse?

All following information supplied by Friends of Goodness World Life Blog:

http://american-platform.com/america/2008/10/10/hannity-on-obamas-cozy-connections-with-fannie-and-freddie/

Predicted a year ago!

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdxjgP42iTLTpxg0-VEQGkqMoy5A

 

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. 

 

The first six years, the economy was fine.

 

A little more than one year ago:

 

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high

2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon

3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%

4) The DOW JONES hit a record high–14,000 +

5) Americans were buying new cars, taking vacations 

 

But Americans wanted ‘CHANGE’! 

 

So, in 2006 they voted in a Democrat Congress and yes–we got ‘CHANGE’ all right.

 

In the PAST YEAR:

 

1) Consumer confidence has plummeted

2) Gasoline is now over $3.50 per gallon

3) Unemployment is up to 6.1%

4) Americans have seen home equity drop $12 TRILLION DOLLARS

5) More than One Million American homes are in foreclosure

6) THE DOW is probing another low

7) $2.5 TRILLION EVAPORATED from STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS

                 

YES, IN 2006 AMERICA VOTED FOR CHANGE.

 

WE SURE GOT IT!

 

REMEMBER, THE PRESIDENT HAS NO CONTROL OVER ANY OF THESE ISSUES, ONLY CONGRESS.

 

AND WHAT HAS CONGRESS DONE IN THE LAST TWO YEARS?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  OTHER THAN VOTE FOR MORE SPENDING, AND REFUSE TO REFORM FANNIE MAE OR FREDDIE MAC (THANKS SENATORS DODD, PELOSI, FRANK, REID, DURBAN, KENNEDY.)

 

NOW THE DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT CLAIMS HE IS GOING TO REALLY GIVE US CHANGE ALONG WITH A DEMOCRAT CONGRESS!

 

VOTE McCAIN/PALIN AND LIVE!

Dedicated Leader or Daddy Daycare?

On election day we choose between a distinctly inexperienced, unqualified and questionable individual presenting ever-changing policies, versus a tested statesman, military expert, proven leader and respected foreign policy expert.

 

 

AMERICANS: TOUGH-MINDED OR LIMP-WRISTED?

Will we choose the Proven Horse or the Prancing Pony?

By Allan Erickson

10.10.08

 

 

Growing numbers of Americans are increasingly angry and frustrated about Sen. Barack Obama, his candidacy for President, and the lack of integrity in media when it comes to objective coverage, or lack thereof.  Any and everything can be thrown at McCain/Palin with alacrity and glee.  Raise your voice simply to ask a question about Obama and you are a racist, a sexist, a homophobe etc.

 

Americans see a good and decent woman of accomplishment in Sarah Palin, a woman savaged for weeks by the press and Hollywood, an individual raked over the coals for no reason other than she is a conservative Christian who opposes abortion.  What crimes the devious commit seeking high office!  In America it is a high crime to have an opinion contrary to the altogether enlightened, cosmopolitan and politically correct Left.    

 

Observing Palin’s treatment causes one to wonder if our country has become little more than a circus, preoccupied with a kind of professional wrestling approach to politics.   Everything has become a smack down. Apparently it is fine to be a bigot, and display hateful prejudice against all things Christian, all things Republican, all things conservative.  Bigots are as bigots do.  It becomes obvious the Left is more concerned about promoting political ideology and less interested in avoiding racial tension, class warfare, internal collapse.

 

When someone objectively documents and expresses reasonable criticisms of Sen. Obama, the Left immediately boils tar and plucks feathers, all the while screaming the most vile invective.  Evidence is abundant.  Watch the evening news, the talk shows, or visit a conservative website and read the comments.  However, let one nut case yell out a stupid remark at a McCain rally and it makes the headlines at Huffington and on the front pages and on the 5:00 news, reported as proof positive Republicans are hate-filled warmongers unconcerned about the poor, racist imperialists through and through!

 

Those promoting Leftist ideology, in the main Democrats as radicalized as Obama, essentially call for the overthrow of all things traditionally American. 

 

They call for socialism versus capitalism, endorse gay marriage and denigrate heterosexual monogamy, characterize baby killing as a right and a privacy issue, codify government as god to engineer society, steal from the Haves to subsidize and subjugate the HaveNots, embrace foreign enemies, break laws, disrupt domestic tranquility, turn race against race, encourage illegal immigration, ridicule Judeo-Christian values, promote atheism, exalt human wisdom above humble faith, canonize terrorists and insult patriots.

 

Just the kind of folks you want over for Sunday dinner?  Just the kind of folks you want running the country?

 

In 25 days we select a President.

 

Will we use our heads, or allow emotionalism to drive us to the polls?

 

Most of the people supporting Obama express warm fuzzes:  he makes people feel good, he makes them ‘hopeful,’ he represents change, he’ll make the Europeans feel good about us, he makes youth feel good about the future, he excites, he inspires, he understands, he cares.

 

Dear fellow citizens, we are not voting for an American Idol.  

 

We are selecting an individual to lead the free world in the face of global economic chaos, global Islamic terrorism, global natural disasters, and the rise of rogue states hell bent on obtaining and using nuclear weapons.

 

This is not a choice between the Fonz and the Frat Boy. 

 

This is a choice between a distinctly inexperienced, unqualified and questionable individual presenting an ever-changing platform versus a tested statesman, military expert, proven leader and respected foreign policy expert.

 

Feeling good is short-lived, offering lousy return on investment.  The limp-wristed will not inherit the earth.  They offer a weak hand to the tiller of state.

 

Tough mindedness is required today.  An intelligent choice demands emotionalism take a back seat.

 

We need a servant steeled by suffering, not a politician promoted by propaganda.

 

We need a decisive, dedicated leader, not daddy daycare. 

 

We need a proven horse, not a prancing pony.   

 

Finally, if the majority of people are not concerned about the glaring warning lights shining on Sen. Obama, as follows, then reason will not rule election day:

 

 

Experience/qualification

Bill Clinton does not think Obama is qualified.  Hillary Clinton does not think Obama is qualified.  Joe Biden said during the primaries the Presidency does not lend itself to on-the-job training, saying Obama is not qualifited. Obama has no executive experience (other than four years CEO of Ayers’ CAC), no direct foreign policy experience, little federal legislative experience, no military experience, and get this, he would not pass the background check to be a Secret Service agent because of his association with Ayers, a terrorist.

 

Why do all these Democrats endorse McCain?

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/why-all-these-dem-endorsements-of-mccainpalin/

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/now-official-endorses-palin/

 

 

 

Campaign finance: reporting disparities, illegal foreign money

http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/Obama_Campaign_/2008/10/08/138707.html?s=al&promo_code=6CBD-1

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=308272698295150

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8DEzWz6rCzXtX4b6fBYSVsV9ADAD93M0K5G0

http://thecurrent.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/public-financing.php

 

 

 

 

Fannie Mae: Dems, sub-prime mortgages, Obama contributions, financial crisis

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/10/mccain_goes_after_obama_on_fan.asp

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75586

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/obamas-incredible-remarks-about-sub-prime-lending/

 

 

 

Voter fraud: direct ties to ACORN

http://www.redcounty.com/sarasota/2008/10/obama-acorn-links-grow/

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/rnc-cnn-exposes-how-acorn/story.aspx?guid=%7BE0F68C91-381A-43E8-9857-D990EFC33B34%7D&dist=hppr

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/07/26/acorn-falls-again-the-worst-case-of-voter-registration-fraud-in-washington-state-history/

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/acorn-caught-faking-more-voter-registrations

 

 

 

Radical associations, a legacy of anti-Americanism: Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorhn, Kalidi, Al-Mosour, Meeks, Pfleger, Rezko, Soros, MoveOn, ACORN, Public Allies, Woods Foundation, Annenberg Challenge, Nation of Islam, American Communist Party.  Sen. Obama, you can denounce these associations today, but for years you were in bed with them, helping them, and they were working for you, and continue to this day, and Americans have every right to question your loyalties.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTViMGRmMmYxZTgwZTFjYmFjODU5YzM4Y2MwM2ViMjY=

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_obamaayers_connection.html

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/bho-close-friend-largest-blood-bath-in-america/

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/devastating-obama-video/

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/bho-good-god-almighty-exposed-at-last/

 

 

 

Class warfare: the race card/guns & religion – “From the abundance of the hear the mouth speaks.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0150607520080801

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/14/barackobama.uselections2008

 

 

 

Infanticide:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obama_and_infanticide.html

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11799

 

 

 

Iraq:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8  ten million hits

 

 

 

Defense Cuts:

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/why-is-sen-obama-against-the-us-military/

 

 

 

Free speech intimidation: Police state tactics

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/obama_campaign_confronts_wgn_r.html

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/obama-versus-free-speech/75715/

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/BLOGS09/80927018

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28906

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/the-coming-obama-thugocracy/

 

 

 

Troubling Endorsements:

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/obama-endorsements-troubling-ahmadinejad-kim-jong-il-hamas/

 

 

 

Shifting positions

For 19 months Obama promoted increases in virtually every tax, calling for drastically increased federal spending, but now he promotes tax cuts and spending cuts across the board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16aBNduAyQ4   Mr. Obama:  Who are you?

 

 

 

Conservative Blacks Speak Out:

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/blacks-speak-out-about-barack-obama/

 

 

Age/health

Obama: lifelong smoker, mother died of cancer, father reportedly alcoholic

Biden: two life-threatening brain surgeries

 

 

No matter how you slice this thing McCain comes out the far superior applicant for the most important job on earth: President of these United States, leader of the free world.

Obama’s incredible remarks about sub prime lending

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FewmvkaTXHU

Obama’s linkage to sub prime mortgage scandal:

http://frontpage.americandaughter.com/?p=2015

Barney Frank dereg’d Fannie, then killed reform

 

Frank’s fingerprints are all over the financial fiasco

By Jeff Jacoby

September 28, 2008

Boston Globe

 

 

‘THE PRIVATE SECTOR got us into this mess. The government has to get us out of it.”

That’s Barney Frank’s story, and he’s sticking to it. As the Massachusetts Democrat has explained it in recent days, the current financial crisis is the spawn of the free market run amok, with the political class guilty only of failing to rein the capitalists in.  Barney Frank’s talking points notwithstanding, mortgage lenders didn’t wake up one fine day deciding to junk long-held standards of creditworthiness in order to make ill-advised loans to unqualified borrowers. It would be closer to the truth to say they woke up to find the government twisting their arms and demanding that they do so – or else.  http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco/

 

 

Lawmaker Accused of Fannie Mae Conflict of Interest

October 03, 2008

By Bill Sammon

WASHINGTON —

Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank’s relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie. Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,432501,00.html

 

 

WHERE WAS SENATOR DODD?

Playing the Blame Game On Fannie and Freddie

By Al Hubbard and Noam Neusner

Friday, September 12, 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html

MORE INFORMATION:

https://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/thanks-sen-kerry-for-your-concern-for-the-american-taxpayer/

 

For all those interested in the truth

Invest 9 minutes to learn the truth about this financial crisis

 

President Bill Clinton agrees Democrats at fault for resisting all efforts over many years to reform Fannie and Freddie:

 

Hat tip:  American Daughter

Obama’s dangerous pals

BARACK’S ‘ORGANIZER’ BUDS PUSHED FOR BAD MORTGAGES

By Stanley Kurtz

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09292008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_dangerous_pals_131216.htm?page=0

 

WHAT exactly does a “community organizer” do? Barack Obama’s rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here’s a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit.

 

In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes – and thereby force financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers.

 

In other words, community organizers help to undermine the US economy by pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans. And Obama has spent years training and funding the organizers who do it.

 

McCain worked for Reform: Obama was silent

Blame Fannie Mae and Congress

For the Credit Mess

By CHARLES W. CALOMIRIS and PETER J. WALLISON

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212948811465427.html?mod=googlenews_wsj  (edited version below, read full story via this link)

9.23.08

 

Many monumental errors and misjudgments contributed to the acute financial turmoil in which we now find ourselves. Nevertheless, the vast accumulation of toxic mortgage debt that poisoned the global financial system was driven by the aggressive buying of subprime and Alt-A mortgages, and mortgage-backed securities, by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The poor choices of these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) — and their sponsors in Washington — are largely to blame for our current mess.

 

How did we get here? Let’s review: In order to curry congressional support after their accounting scandals in 2003 and 2004, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac committed to increased financing of “affordable housing.” They became the largest buyers of subprime and Alt-A mortgages between 2004 and 2007, with total GSE exposure eventually exceeding $1 trillion. In doing so, they stimulated the growth of the subpar mortgage market and substantially magnified the costs of its collapse.

 

In 2005, the Senate Banking Committee, then under Republican control, adopted a strong reform bill, introduced by Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole, John Sununu and Chuck Hagel, and supported by then chairman Richard Shelby. The bill prohibited the GSEs from holding portfolios, and gave their regulator prudential authority (such as setting capital requirements) roughly equivalent to a bank regulator. In light of the current financial crisis, this bill was probably the most important piece of financial regulation before Congress in 2005 and 2006. All the Republicans on the Committee supported the bill, and all the Democrats voted against it. Mr. McCain endorsed the legislation in a speech on the Senate floor.

 

Mr. Obama, like all other Democrats, remained silent.

 

Now the Democrats are blaming the financial crisis on “deregulation.” This is a canard.

 

If the Democrats had let the 2005 legislation come to a vote, the huge growth in the subprime and Alt-A loan portfolios of Fannie and Freddie could not have occurred, and the scale of the financial meltdown would have been substantially less. The same politicians who today decry the lack of intervention to stop excess risk taking in 2005-2006 were the ones who blocked the only legislative effort that could have stopped it.