And, no, I don't mean the purple dinosaur. I mean Barney Frank (D-MA), the political dinosaur.
According to Wikipedia: "Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is the United States House Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since 1981. He is a member of the Democratic Party. In 1982, he won his first full term, and he has been re-elected ever since by wide margins. In 1987, he became the second openly gay member of the House of Representatives (the first being Gerry Studds) and is one of the most prominent gay politicians in the United States".
But more important is Frank's central involvement with the unraveling of our financial system. Frank became the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2007 after the Democratic Party won a majority in the House. The committee oversees the entire financial services industry, which includes the securities, insurance, banking, and housing industries.
In 2003, the Bush administration recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis in response to growing concerns about Fannie Mae's role in the real estate bubble.
Under the plan, a new agency was to 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 plan was an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together had issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt, was broken. A report by outside investigators concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics said Fannie Mae did not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
At the time of the proposal, Barney the dinosaur said: “These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Don't you just HATE it when people exaggerate?
Frank, and accomplice Christopher Dodd (D-CT), used their influence over these two financial giants for their own purposes.
In 2008, Freddie gave $20,000 to a Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) event; Fannie Mae gave nearly $19,000 to the same event. Freddie has donated $125,000 and Fannie donated $80,000 to homosexual groups since 2005.) Dodd, welcomed himself to the trough as well, getting preferential treatment from Countrywide on two mortgages totally $7 million. Countrywide was one of the biggest subprime providers.
Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd also received thousands of dollars in contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the years. Dodd has received $133,900 since 1989; Frank received $40,100. (While in the Senate, Barack Obama received $105,849). Here, piggy piggy! Soooeeee!
ACORN, the socialist group that routinely engages in voter fraud, was involved in pushing for risky loans to people with bad credit histories, no jobs and no money for down payments. ACORN pressured banks in Chicago and elsewhere to give risky loans. Obama actually trained ACORN workers when he was a community organizer in Chicago.
After winning overwhelming victories in the last 3 decades, Frank is facing his toughest challenge ever. Some polls show him to be leading by less than 10%. Frank's own polls reveal no threat. Let's hope his ability to forecast the future of the housing and mortgage sector is as finely tuned as his own internal polling data.
Marko's Take
Showing posts with label Christopher Dodd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christopher Dodd. Show all posts
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Plan To Audit Federal Reserve Thwarted By Obama Administration
Chalk one up for our wonderful Congress and President! Possibly the most important piece of legislation on the docket and one supported overwhelmingly by the populace just "withered on the vine". Time to pop those champagne corks, ladies and gentlemen of Washington, your need to obfuscate has once again taken precedence over the rights of the American people to understand what is being done with THEIR money!
Of course, we have to allow for the fact that politicians view tax collections as belonging to THEM. They don't! The Federal Reserve (Fed), so expert at creating asset bubbles, then justifying their existence by rushing in to fix those bubbles, remains shielded from any oversight. What's a few trillion among friends?
Political pressure from the Obama administration, along with the Treasury and Fed, led Senate lawmakers to alter a provision pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) that was gaining momentum. It would have largely repealed a 32-year-old law that shields Fed monetary policy from congressional auditors.
Sen. Sanders, after the intense lobbying by the Obama administration and Fed officials, removed language in his amendment to the financial-regulation overhaul that would’ve opened the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations to audits by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO). The original Sanders amendment eliminated those restrictions, which were passed by the Senate in 1978. The bill prevented the GAO from reviewing the Fed’s monetary policy actions, discount window lending, open market operations and transactions with foreign central banks or governments.
The watered-down Sanders amendment requires a one-time audit of the Fed’s emergency credit facilities and an inspection of Fed governance, a review of the selection of regional bank directors and the operation of regional banks’ lending facilities. The measure still requires the Fed to publicly identify borrowers from its emergency lending facilities and other special programs by December 1. But, it doesn’t stipulate ongoing disclosure. So what good is it?
The compromise, endorsed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and the Treasury, would require the Fed to disclose more details about its lending during the financial crisis. It would also require a one-time audit of those loans and a one-time review of Fed governance. A formal vote was pushed back until next week. Its endorsement by the Treasury is proof the bill has ZERO teeth.
"At a time when our entire financial system almost collapsed, we cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer," Mr. Sanders said. "The American people have a right to know."
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, while insisting on a commitment to "openness" at the Fed, said in a letter to Congress the original Sanders measure would "seriously threaten monetary policy independence, increase inflation fears and market interest rates and damage economic stability and job creation." Mr. Bernanke fails to mention in his letter that the Fed itself has caused economic and financial instability and has utterly mismanaged monetary policy and set the level of interest rates to cause the very financial crisis we're in. (Sarcasm intentional!)
A House bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) that passed in December, contains a proposal similar to the original Sanders measure. If the Senate bill were to pass, it would need to be reconciled in a conference committee. Given the "compromise" bill, the reconciliation process cannot possibly lead to any legislation that would be effective.
Before the last-minute compromise, the Fed's foes appeared to be winning and got a major boost when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said he would side with Mr. Sanders.
At least half a dozen Obama administration officials joined the high-pressure campaign, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Administration aides credited Mr. Dodd with pushing back against the original amendment and developing an acceptable alternative.
The corrupt wheels of Washington continue to turn. The fact is that an audit of the Fed is not opposed because it could interfere with the great job they do. Rather, it is a desperate attempt to hide their utter incompetence and mismanagement, along with their surreptitious market operations designed to interfere with a free market to serve their political masters.
Marko's Take
Our latest You Tube video titled "Social In-Security: The Problem" is now posted and can be accessed by clicking here http://www.youtube.com/markostaketv#p/u/0/twFn9XyP2rI. We will post "Social In-Security: The Solution" subsequently. Stay tuned for a 7 step plan on how to fix this mess.
Of course, we have to allow for the fact that politicians view tax collections as belonging to THEM. They don't! The Federal Reserve (Fed), so expert at creating asset bubbles, then justifying their existence by rushing in to fix those bubbles, remains shielded from any oversight. What's a few trillion among friends?
Political pressure from the Obama administration, along with the Treasury and Fed, led Senate lawmakers to alter a provision pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) that was gaining momentum. It would have largely repealed a 32-year-old law that shields Fed monetary policy from congressional auditors.
Sen. Sanders, after the intense lobbying by the Obama administration and Fed officials, removed language in his amendment to the financial-regulation overhaul that would’ve opened the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations to audits by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO). The original Sanders amendment eliminated those restrictions, which were passed by the Senate in 1978. The bill prevented the GAO from reviewing the Fed’s monetary policy actions, discount window lending, open market operations and transactions with foreign central banks or governments.
The watered-down Sanders amendment requires a one-time audit of the Fed’s emergency credit facilities and an inspection of Fed governance, a review of the selection of regional bank directors and the operation of regional banks’ lending facilities. The measure still requires the Fed to publicly identify borrowers from its emergency lending facilities and other special programs by December 1. But, it doesn’t stipulate ongoing disclosure. So what good is it?
The compromise, endorsed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and the Treasury, would require the Fed to disclose more details about its lending during the financial crisis. It would also require a one-time audit of those loans and a one-time review of Fed governance. A formal vote was pushed back until next week. Its endorsement by the Treasury is proof the bill has ZERO teeth.
"At a time when our entire financial system almost collapsed, we cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer," Mr. Sanders said. "The American people have a right to know."
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, while insisting on a commitment to "openness" at the Fed, said in a letter to Congress the original Sanders measure would "seriously threaten monetary policy independence, increase inflation fears and market interest rates and damage economic stability and job creation." Mr. Bernanke fails to mention in his letter that the Fed itself has caused economic and financial instability and has utterly mismanaged monetary policy and set the level of interest rates to cause the very financial crisis we're in. (Sarcasm intentional!)
A House bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) that passed in December, contains a proposal similar to the original Sanders measure. If the Senate bill were to pass, it would need to be reconciled in a conference committee. Given the "compromise" bill, the reconciliation process cannot possibly lead to any legislation that would be effective.
Before the last-minute compromise, the Fed's foes appeared to be winning and got a major boost when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said he would side with Mr. Sanders.
At least half a dozen Obama administration officials joined the high-pressure campaign, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Administration aides credited Mr. Dodd with pushing back against the original amendment and developing an acceptable alternative.
The corrupt wheels of Washington continue to turn. The fact is that an audit of the Fed is not opposed because it could interfere with the great job they do. Rather, it is a desperate attempt to hide their utter incompetence and mismanagement, along with their surreptitious market operations designed to interfere with a free market to serve their political masters.
Marko's Take
Our latest You Tube video titled "Social In-Security: The Problem" is now posted and can be accessed by clicking here http://www.youtube.com/markostaketv#p/u/0/twFn9XyP2rI. We will post "Social In-Security: The Solution" subsequently. Stay tuned for a 7 step plan on how to fix this mess.
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