The Egomaniac-in-Chief Knows Better Than You

If you ran a business, any business, would you pay your employees more than they’re worth?

Of course not.

Someone please let Barack “What birth certificate?” Obama in on that golden nugget of common sense.

Obama administration to issue executive pay limits By JIM KUHNHENN

“If the taxpayers are helping you, then you’ve got certain responsibilities to not be living high on the hog,” President Barack Obama said in an interview with “NBC Nightly News.”

Doesn’t he sound so Presidential?

Now we see what happens when government “helps” us: it actually comes to OWN us. That was the intent all along.

Filed under: Barack Obama / The Messiah, Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

The Robber Government: Where is All That Money Going?

Everyone is talking about how much money the government is spending, but very little attention is being paid to where they are spending it or what they are buying with it.

The government is putting money into banks, even when the banks don’t want it, in hopes that the banks will put it into circulation. But the latest statistics shows that banks are lending even less money now than they were before the government dumped all that cash on them.

— Thomas Sowell

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

The Latest Pig$ at the Trough

Public Radio and Public TV want a $550 million bailout by Michelle Malkin

Filed under: Everything Else, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , bailouts, public radio, public tv

States With Worst Jobless Rates Governed Predominantly by Democrats

Associated Press: States with worst jobless rates share root causes — Unemployment hot spots all over the map, but worst states share housing, manufacturing pain By Christopher S. Rugaber and Ray Henry

Unlike the last recession, today’s unemployment hot spots are all over the map.

The five states with the highest unemployment rates — Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, California and Oregon — all have something in common, though: a heightened exposure to the root causes of this downward spiral.
[...]
A contiguous cluster of rural states — Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Utah — had the lowest unemployment rates in November, ranging from 3.2 percent to 3.7 percent. The Labor Department on Friday said the national jobless rate in December was 7.2 percent.

Historically high prices for energy and grains have been a boon to their economies, although recent declines in commodity prices are beginning to bite, economists said.

I know something else Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, California and Oregon have in common:with exception of South Carolina, they’re dominated by the Democrat Party.

Michigan Governor = Democrat, incompetent as kcuf
Michigan Senate = 21 Republicans 17 Democrats
Michigan House of Representatives = 67 Democrats, 43 Republicans

Rhode Island Governor = Democrat
Rhode Island Senate (200 8 ) 33 Democrats, 5 Republicans
Rhode Island House = 60 Democrat, 13 Republican, 1 vacant

South Carolina Governor = Republican
South Carolina Senate 27 Republicans 19 Democrats
South Carolina House = 73 Republicans 51 Democrats

California Governor = Republican (in name only)
California Senate = 24 Democrats, 15 Republican
California House = 51 Democrats, 29 Republican

Oregon Governor = Democrat
Oregon Senate = 19 Democrat, 11 Republican
Oregon House of Representatives = 36 Democrat, 24 Republican

As for those states listed with the LOWEST unemployment rates, they’re dominated by Republicans. Coincidence?

Wyoming Governor = Democrat
Wyoming House of Representatives = 42 Republicans, 18 Democrats
Wyoming Senate 23 Republicans, 7 Democrats

North Dakota Governor = Republican
North Dakota Senate = 26 Republican, 21 Democrat (2007)
North Dakota House of Representatives = 61 Republicans, 33 Democrats

South Dakota Governor = Republican
Senate = 20 Republicans, 15 Democrats
House of Representatives = 50 Republicans, 20 Democrats

Nebraska Governor = Democrat
Unicameral Legislature= 32 Republicans, Democrats 17

Utah Governor = Republican
Utah Senate = 21 Republicans, 8 Democrats
Utah House of Representatives = 55 Republicans, 20 Democrats

Legislatorum est justas leges condere

(“It is the duty of legislators to pass just laws”)

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , California, economy, Government engineered mortgage crisis, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, unemployment rate

Pig$ at the Trough: Porn Industry the Latest Beggar to Proposition Government

The ripple effect from the collapsed housing market continues. Great job, Democrats. It takes a ton of talent to kcuf things up THIS badly.

Did you think the prized diamond of the American economy, the pornography industry, was recession proof? Bah! When Congress is throwing money around like water at restaurant tables, anyone (except the average taxpayer) is fully eligible for “free” money.

Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.

“The take here [Great choice of words -- Ed.] is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”

A message to Owen Moogan,

Your arrogance aside, yes, it is very much for us to determine. It is OUR money. It is the taxpayer’s money for which you beg like a horse sucking on oats. Yes, it is for us to determine whether you take OUR money for your parasitic industry or not.

Moreoever, if your request was not “the most serious thing in the world,” then why are you bothering to make the request? Do you normally beg for $5 billion of tax payer money under regular circumstances? Clearly, it may not be the most serious, but $5 billion is a hell of alot of money to simply give away for the purpose of paying for the drug and alcohol habits of men and women (mainly women aged 18-26) with no family, no love, no roots, no future.

Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry’s survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people.”

Yes, Mr. Francis. The “cherished” porn industry is the equivalent of General Motors and the myriad of banks bailed by the American taxpayer.

This coming from a man who has spent time in jail and who uses drunken women for his personal bank accounts.

“People are too depressed to be sexually active,” Flynt said in the statement. “This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

Priorities 101. Yes, Mr. Flynt. People always give up their cars in exchange for regular sex.

Americans are losing their homes, their jobs, and are economically insecure, but GOD FORBID we are “too depressed to be sexually active.” In that case, Mr. Flynt might not be able to purchase another gold wheelchair.

Yes, Mr. Francis, Mr. Flynt, Mr. Moogan: you three are EXACTLY the type of parasitic trolls to whom the American public should consider giving money.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , arrogance, bailouts, beggars, Crazy liberals, Girls Gone Wild, Hustler, Joe Francis, Larry Flynt, owen Moogan, porn industry, sex, shameless, slease, smut, socialism, whores

Economically Illiterate Michigan Governor Calls Republican Opposition “UnAmerican”

Meet the detestable and liberal Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, the economic incompetent who destroyed the Michigan economy.

Michigan’s economy is currently tied for the highest unemployment rate in America. (As of October 2008, Michigan’s unemployment rate was at a stunning 9.3%.) Rhode Island, another state dominated by Democrats, also has a sterling 9.3% unemployment rate.

For much of Granholm’s first term, Michigan’s unemployment rate hovered around 7%.

Not surprisingly, many people are leaving the state. Between 2000 and 2005, Michigan ranked #49 in retaining young adults.

According to this economic illiterate, Jennifer Granholm, not nationalizing the auto industry is “unAmerican.” Not bailing out the auto industry is “unAmerican.” Government interference in the private sector, however, is the primary principle upon which America was founded. I’m sure the Framers mentioned it in the original draft of the Constitution. Somehow they forgot to include it in the final draft.

Now for all her economic ignorance, for all her damage to the people of Michigan, for all her support and devotion to auto and teacher unions, Granholm wants the federal government to save her. her state. Apparently an expansion of an already behemoth federal government is “American” for Granholm.

As for the Republicans in the Senate, I applaud them.

The Hill: Mich. Governor Granholm: Vote Against Auto Bailout “Un-American” by Michael O’Brien

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) said it was “un-American” for senators to have voted against approving a bailout of troubled automakers last night, saying their vote may cause a recession to become a depression.

“It is unacceptable for this un-American, frankly, behavior of these U.S. senators to cause this country to go from a recession into a depression,” Granholm said during a radio interview Friday morning.

Negotiations over an agreement to assist Michigan’s Big Three stalled last night in a 52-35 vote on a procedural motion to bring up the package for a vote. Republicans largely opposed the bill after it failed to win concessions from the United Automotive Workers union on wages and benefits.

“It is such an unbelievable stab at workers across the country,” Granholm added. “You give this big bailout to these financial institutions–don’t ask a single question, they can do what they want–and then you lay the blame for the auto industry, which is a victim of this financial meltdown, on the backs of the people who are working on the line.”

Granholm, along with members of Michigan’s congressional delegation, have been pressing for lawmakers to pass an assistance package. All but one member of Michigan’s House and Senate delegation have voted in favor of the package.

Rep. Tim Walberg, a first-term Republican defeated in his bid for reelection, was unable to make the vote due to a medical procedure the day of the vote. He has stated he would vote in favor of the package.

America has become a nation of beggars.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Crazy liberals, economic illiteracy, Governor, Jennifer Granholm, Michigan, unAmerican

Democrats Destroying the American Economy

Unemployment Rate

 

Let’s begin with Nov 2006, when Democrats take control of Congress

Unemployment rate

December 2006 = 4.4%

June 2007 = 4.6%

Dec 2007 = 5.0

Jan 2008 = 4.9

Apr = 5.0

Jun = 5.5

Aug = 6.1

Oct = 6.5

Nov = 6.7

Dec = x.x

Also from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply (-533,000) in November, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5 to 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. November’s drop in payroll employment followed declines of 403,000 in September and 320,000 in October, as revised. Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors in November.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons (10.3 million) and the unemployment rate (6.7 percent) continued to increase in November. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, as recently announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the number of unemployed persons increased by 2.7 million, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.7 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

Congratulations liberals. In your constant quest for power, in your emotion-induced stupor, you have managed to ruin the best economy on the planet. And all of this from the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Janet Reno, and an assortment of other liberals suffering from malignant economic illiteracy.

Yes, congratulations to all of you. In two short years, your zealotry and intentional disregard of basic market principles has shoved environmentalism down our throats, science be damned; it has raised gas and food prices; it has destroyed the housing market, several major banks; it has raised the unemployment rate, and corroded any remaining confidence in the American economy.

And how did the American public respond to all of this massive incompetence? By voting more of you jackasses into the House and Senate.

Perhaps America deserves the government she gets.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, Democrats Behaving Badly, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

Obama and the Power of Positive Thinking

The Egomaniac in Chief thinks he’s already President. Meanwhile, the real President is nowhere to be found.

Obama: Economy ‘a big problem, and it’s going to get worse’ by Jonathan Martin

Filed under: Barack Obama / The Messiah, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

Quote of the Day

“If, during the first bailout of the mortgage business, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, if [Democrats] could have found a Republican to blame it on, he would be in Guantanamo Bay right now.” — Rush Limbaugh

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Government engineered mortgage crisis

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) is a Stupid Man

If you needed surgery, would you go to the plumber?

Well, in terms of the current economic situation, Congress and Senator Bob Casey are the plumbers.

NRO: Auto Hearings: Hypocrisy 101 by Henry Payne

Last summer, Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey joined his Democratic colleagues in piling $85 billion in new regulatory costs on the Detroit Three by mandating a 40-percent fuel-efficiency increase by 2020.

“The energy bill passed by the Senate takes an important step forward to increase our energy, economic, and environmental security,” said the senator. “And the CAFE standard increase contained in the bill is long overdue.”

At this afternoon’s Senate Banking Committee hearings, Casey — unapologetic for his role in burdening the industry now before him seeking a handout — demanded quick passage of $34 billion in taxpayer money to save the Detroit companies from bankruptcy. Casey moaned about the economic devastation an auto company failure would visit on his state.

Last fall, Barack Obama stood with striking UAW workers in Kansas City to oppose a new labor agreement that industry executives said was necessary to survive. “I stand with the 73,000 United Automobile Workers who are striking General Motors,” Sen. Obama thundered. “The demands the union is fighting for — job security, the health benefits they were promised — are things that all workers should expect and that UAW members deserve.”

Now, with automakers demanding a bridge loan just so they can live to see the day when that new labor agreement takes effect in 2010, Obama ally and Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin points to the companies’ sins of “paying their executives and their workers too much.”

Clearly, these men have no clue that their actions have consequences.

Actually, they do not CARE.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Barack Obama, Bob Casey, car industry, Chrysler, economic illiteracy, economy, Ford, GM, Senate Banking Committee, UAW

Don’t Worry, It’s Only Taxpayer Money: Corporate Beggars Shake the Tin Cup at D.C.

Has distrust of the free market ever led to anything positive?

With the “bail out” of banks, (i.e., give away of tax payer money to entities which didn’t do jack to earn it) other businesses decided that working for a profit is silly when the retards in Congress give money away like it was, um, mortgage money.

The beggars list begins with the twin failures also known as Ford and General Motors. Vroom vroom.

FORD Requests $9B Loan in Plan Submitted to Congress

GM Asks for Up to $18B

Meanwhile his might explain some of the problem: Sales hit new lows

Pelosi: Automaker bankruptcy ‘not option’

Auditors Fault Oversight of Bailout Funds

Feds to expand rescue; reviewing applications from ‘hundreds of banks’

But it’s not just corporations to blame:

Governors to Seek Up to $100B in Social Aid

On the other hand, some businesses should have gone broke years ago. Just don’t expect them to notice. While the Titanic sank, the fiddlers played.

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , 2 billion, advertising revenue, AP, beggars, corporate whores, Ford, General Motors, shameless, tax payers

Obama Displays Ignorance of All Kinds in Interview

The softball questions which ABC’s Barbara Walters threw to Obama were almost pathetic.

Barbara Walters Interviews The Messiah

Baba: How did you feel when you read about the three heads of the auto companies taking private planes to Washington? [Gee. I wonder how he'll answer this one? -- Ed.]

The Messiah: I thought maybe they’re a little tone deaf to what’s happening in America.

Speaking of tone deaf, never mind the fact that those CEOs were REQUIRED to take private planes, and that there are reasonable safety and business reasons to do so.

Obama later opines that some execs should go without bonuses.

Congress, specifically Democrats, created this mortgage nightmare which spirals out of control into a global crisis. Now this self-appointed Messiah is dictating who gets paid what?

HOW the KCUF do the bonuses of any CEO impact me in ANY WAY?

Spoken like a true Communist.

Thomas Sowell explains:

There is an old Russian fable, with different versions in other countries, about two poor peasants, Ivan and Boris. The only difference between them was that Boris had a goat and Ivan didn’t. One day, Ivan came upon a strange-looking lamp and, when he rubbed it, a genie appeared. She told him that she could grant him just one wish, but it could be anything in the world.

Ivan said, “I want Boris’ goat to die.”

Variations on this story in other countries suggest that this tells us something about human beings, not just Russians.

It may tell us something painful about many Americans today, when so many people are preoccupied with the pay of corporate CEOs. It is not that the corporate CEOs’ pay affects them so much. If every oil company executive in America agreed to work for nothing, that would not be enough to lower the price of a gallon of gasoline by a dime. If every General Motors executive agreed to work for nothing, that would not lower the price of a Cadillac or a Chevrolet by one percent.

Too many people are like Ivan, who wanted Boris’ goat to die.

Speaking of economic ignorance, another famous Democrat made economic problems much worse.

Filed under: Barack Obama / The Messiah, Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , arrogance, Barack Obama, Barbara Walters, bonuses, CEO, Communism, economic illiteracy, Government engineered mortgage crisis, ignorance, interview, Liberal media, media bias, what liberal media? softball questions

Forget the Big Three. Give Toyota the Bailout Money.

Why? Because Toyota is not asking for any bail out money, unlike the Big Three whores, which tells you alot about how Toyota views “free” money and those bastards in D.C. who started this whole economic mess.

(Yes, it was government, specifically Democrats, who created this nightmare.)

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Big Three, Toyota

How Government Intervention Caused the Credit Crisis

Washington Post: Don’t Blame Capitalism By Peter Schiff

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

Dow Jones Flies High

AP: Manic Monday: Dow roars back from worst week ever

Wall Street stormed back after its worst week ever and staged the biggest single-day stock rally since the Great Depression on Monday, catapulting the Dow Jones industrials to a 936-point gain and finally offering relief from eight consecutive days of stock market carnage.

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Dow Jones

Shocking: ACORN Blames “Predatory Lenders”

More predictable than the sunrise, ACORN released a statement shifting blame while totally ignoring its rampant voter fraud.

As usual, Barack Obama has someone else do the dirty work FOR him.

ACORN ISSUES A STATEMENT ! by Greta Van Susteren

Meanwhile…

Clintons File RICO Suit Against Obama – ACORN Stole the Nomination Too!

Filed under: Barack Obama / The Messiah, Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , ACORN, ad, Government engineered mortgage crisis, John McCain, lenders, statement

Place Chris Dodd (D) Under Oath

WSJ: Dodd and Countrywide — The Senator should take the witness stand

Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld was under oath Monday when he was grilled on Capitol Hill about his role in the current financial meltdown. But if Members really want to understand the credit mania, they should also call Chris Dodd.

AP

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, (D., Conn.).

The Connecticut Senator has been out front denouncing the “companies that form the foundation of our financial markets,” for “their insatiable appetite for risk.” He has also decried “reckless, careless and sometimes unscrupulous actors in the mortgage lending industry” and he has proclaimed that “American taxpayers deserve to know how we arrived at this moment.” To that end, we propose he take the stand — under oath.
Former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg says Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program the California mortgage company had for the influential. He also says he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s then-CEO.

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , President Bush, Democrats, subprime mortgage collapse, Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, mortgage, House of Representatives, socialism, subprime, Dow Jones, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks, Jamie Gorelick, Franklin Raines, AIG, minorities, economic illiteracy, Jim Johnson, Chris Dodd, Bear Stearns, Government engineered mortgage crisis, bailout, 700 billion, stocks, economists

Obama the Uniter, When Convenient

America’s Second Wake-Up Call By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY

[T]he surge in Iraq has worked, we are winning decisively and, as a result, now have a new democracy and strong ally in the Mideast. Meanwhile, seven years have passed since 9/11, and we still haven’t had another major terrorist attack on our soil.

Yet the media give no credit at all to President Bush, the only president to do something about the terrorist attacks that we had suffered repeatedly beginning in 1992.

With the economy slowing and a weak financial market created solely by our subprime mortgage mess, what do we keep hearing now from the media in hopes the majority will believe it and vote accordingly? “The mess is caused by eight years of failed Bush economic policies, including the tax cuts for the rich that should be rescinded.”

This is not the talk of a uniter of people, but rather a separator stirring up class warfare, envy and resentment. It’s a stirring-up of hate in an attempt to endlessly criticize, condemn, demean and destroy every opponent.

Do you know the real cause of the out-of-control subprime loan mess that’s creating so much fear and hurting every American? It’s not something the media or a certain political party wants you to find out. A picture is worth a thousand words, however, and we’ve made notes of key events on the chart above that you can follow as we give you some key facts.

In 1995, President Clinton mandated new regulations that coerced banks to make significantly more subprime loans to inner-city residents previously viewed as unqualified buyers in high-risk areas. Banks were rated on how well they complied and faced big fines if they didn’t do what government regulators wanted.

The government’s worst decision was allowing and encouraging banks, for the first time, to bundle these subprime loans in giant packages with prime loans. These packages were then sold to other investors as safe because they were government-sponsored by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[emphasis added]

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Liberal media, President Bush, mortgage, media, media bias, Barack Obama/The Messiah, loan, subprime, banks, minorities, Government engineered mortgage crisis, uniter, President Clinton, regulations, surge

Property Rights, Anyone? Illinois Sheriff Takes the Law into His Own Hands

The bleeding hearts always know, er, feel more than the rest of us.

Illinois sheriff scolds banks for evictions of ‘innocent’ renters

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said earlier he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago.

[...]

Many good tenants are suffering because building owners have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, he said Thursday on CNN’s “American Morning.”

“These poor people are seeing everything they own put out on the street. … They’ve paid their bills, paid them on time. Here we are with a battering ram at the front door going to throw them out. It’s gotten insane,” he said.

Mortgage companies are supposed to identify a building’s occupants before asking for an eviction, but sheriff’s deputies routinely find that the mortgage companies have not done so, Dart said.

“This is an example where the banking industry has not done any of the work they should do. It’s a piece of paper to them,” Dart said.

Dart is a Democrat, so he has the anti-corporate mentality down perfectly.

“These mortgage companies … don’t care who’s in the building,” Dart said Wednesday. “They simply want their money and don’t care who gets hurt along the way.

These mortgage companies also own the property. How do you know what they “care” about?

The Illinois Bankers Association opposed the plan, saying that Dart “was elected to uphold the law and to fulfill the legal duties of his office, which include serving eviction notices.”

The association said Dart could be found in contempt of court for ignoring court eviction orders.

“The reality is that by ignoring the law and his legal responsibilities, he is carrying out ‘vigilantism’ at the highest level of an elected official,” it said. “The Illinois banking industry is working hard to help troubled homeowners in many ways, but Sheriff Dart’s declaration of ‘martial law’ should not be tolerated.”

Dart was undeterred Thursday.

“I think the outrage on my part with them [is] that they could so cavalierly issue documents and have me throw people out of homes who have done absolutely nothing wrong,” Dart said. “They played by all the rules.”

This is what occurs when people act with their emotions and not with their heads.

I DO sympathize greatly with people who are victims of a landlord’s irresponsibility.

However, has Dart considered that his actions also adversely affect real people in the mortgage industry? Don’t they also need to make a living? Don’t they need jobs and money to pay their mortgages also?

While Dart may technically be correct, (1) the law is not his to mold to his liking, and (2) property rights are among the most important we have. That he is disregarding the law and the rights of others is outrageous.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Crazy liberals, Democrats, eviction, Illinois Bankers Association, landlords, mortgage, tenants, Tom Dart, vigilatism

Our Unbiased Media: CEO Misbehavior, Publishable. Government Misbehavior, Meh!

Worse than the AIG Spa Vacation (updated) by Thomas Lifson

The last few days we have been treated to hyperventilation over the outrage of AIG executives attending a lavish sales incentive meeting at a ritzy California spa. I hope that Henry Waxman and his committee will be evenhanded in exposing this outrage. But I bet they will ignore Raines.
Franklin Raines, the Democrat who inflated Fannie Mae earnings in order to pay himself fabulous bonuses, earning $90 million dollars, is feeling none of the real estate market pain he helped to create for so many others.  The Washingtonian reports:

In DC: Franklin Raines, the former top man at Fannie Mae, bought a three-bedroom, seven-bath penthouse condominium in the West End’s Ritz-Carlton Residences for $4.9 million. The condo has a rooftop terrace with a hot tub, a butler’s pantry, and three parking spaces. Raines, director of the US Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton, was CEO of Fannie Mae from 1999 to 2004.

Ritz-Carlton Residences, for those unfamiliar with them, are the residential equivalent of the luxury spa where AIG sales champions frolicked for a few days. The lucky owners of condos in these RCR developments have access to room service and other services of a Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Buying a condo like Raines’s is kind of like living permanently in the well-coddled circumstances of a high roller suite at a high end Vegas casino, while having the permanence and customization of home ownership, along, of course, with the tax benefits.

Raines walked away from the mess at Fannie Mae paying only a paltry settlement. Obviously he is well-set for life.

Where’s the outrage?

Michelle Malkin has more

Update from Clarice Feldman: Here is a picture (credit: The Washingtonian) and description of the house Raines is currently trying to sell. I guess he considers the RCR a sacrifice!

[Emphasis added]

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , 700 billion, AIG, bailout, banks, Bear Stearns, Bill Clinton, Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, Democrats, Dow Jones, economic illiteracy, economists, Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, Freddie Mac, Government engineered mortgage crisis, House of Representatives, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson, Jimmy Carter, minorities, mortgage, President Bush, socialism, stocks, subprime, subprime mortgage collapse

How Democrats Created this Financial Crisis II

The Independent: Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis — The least well off are going to face the most stringent terms for mortgages

What is the proximate cause of the collapse of confidence in the world’s banks? Millions of improvident loans to American housebuyers. Which organisations were on their own responsible for guaranteeing half of this $12 trillion market? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the so-called Government Sponsored Enterprises which last month were formally nationalised to prevent their immediate and catastrophic collapse. Now, who do you think were among the leading figures blocking all the earlier attempts by President Bush –- and other Republicans — to bring these lending behemoths under greater regulatory control? Step forward, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

President Bush sought to reform things and with good reason.

In September 2003 the Bush administration launched a measure to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under stricter regulatory control, after a report by outside investigators established that they were not adequately hedging against risks and that Fannie Mae in particular had scandalously mis-stated its accounts. In 2006, it was revealed that Fannie Mae had overstated its earnings –- to which its senior executives’ bonuses were linked -– by a stunning $9.3billion. Between 1998 and 2003, Fannie Mae’s executive chairman, Franklin Raines, picked up over $90m in bonuses and stock options.

But Bush was blocked by Barney and Maxine:

Yet [Democrat] Barney Frank and his chums blocked all Bush’s attempts to put a rein on Raines. During the House Financial Services Committee hearing following Bush’s initiative, Frank declared: “The more people exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness [at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae], the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially.” His colleague on the committee, the California Democrat Maxine Walters [sic], said: “There were nearly a dozen hearings where we were trying to fix something that wasn’t broke. Mr Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and particularly at Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Mr Franklin Raines.”

Frank and Waters were not the only people claiming everything was peachy:

When Mr Raines himself was challenged by the Republican Christopher Shays, to the effect that his ratio of capital to assets (that is, mortgages) of 3 per cent was dangerously low, the Fannie Mae boss retorted that “our assets are so riskless, we could have a capital ratio of under 2 per cent”.

Carter might have signed legislation behind all this, but Clinton (and Reno) gave it force:

Last week [Bill Clinton] acknowledged that “responsibility” for the absence of proper regulation rested “with Democrats who were resisting any efforts of Republicans in Congress, and earlier when I was President and tried to impose tighter standards on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”. Then, as now, members of his own party saw all such initiatives as unwonted attacks on the chances for low-earners, and particularly African-Americans, to own their own homes.

From its inception in 1938 Fannie Mae (and later Freddie Mac) was designed to make housing finance available to “ordinary Americans”. This was a noble aim. In the 1970s another Democrat President, Jimmy Carter, introduced legislation which demanded that such bodies enhance their lending to minorities. Again, this was based on a noble idea: to stamp out racism in the mortgage market. Thus by 1998 you had the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston producing a document entitled “Closing the Gap: a Guide to Equal Opportunities Lending”, which instructed banks that an applicant’s “lack of credit history should not be seen as a negative factor” in obtaining a mortgage.

One responsible journalist, a nearly extinct species, tried to warn everyone:

Jeff Jacoby, of the Boston Globe [...] reminded his readers what he had written in 1995: “Our banks are knowingly approving risky loans to get the feds and the activists off their backs… When the coming wave of foreclosures rolls through the inner city, which of today’s self-congratulating bankers, politicians and regulators plans to take the credit?”. Jacoby adds now: “Barney Frank doesn’t. But his fingerprints are all over this fiasco.”

Some members of Congress were profiting too well from the whole mess:

[T]he biggest recipient of campaign contributions from the munificent duo of Fannie and Freddie over the past 20 years was one Christopher Dodd, Democrat Chairman of the Senate’s Banking Committee.

[G]iven that he has only been in the Senate for four of those years, the second biggest beneficiary was Barack Obama. In August, the Washington Post reported that Obama’s presidential campaign team had sought the advice of Franklin Raines “on mortgage and housing policy matters”.

Who will pick up the bill for all these good intentions?

The saddest outcome of all this within America – apart from the crippling cost to the nation’s taxpayers — is that the very people the Democrats had intended to help will be the biggest victims: for many years to come banks will demand the most stringent terms for mortgages to the least well off.

That’s right. You and me.

What is the root cause of the current mortgage lending crisis?

[Emphasis added]

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

The Real Saviors of this Mess

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , 700 billion, AIG, bailout, banks, Bear Stearns, Bill Clinton, Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, Democrats, Dow Jones, economic illiteracy, economists, Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, Freddie Mac, Government engineered mortgage crisis, House of Representatives, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson, Jimmy Carter, minorities, mortgage, President Bush, socialism, stocks, subprime, subprime mortgage collapse

Dow Jones and Oil Fall (Again)

AP: Dow plunges more than 678 to fall below 9,000 By TIM PARADIS

AP: Oil hits 12-month low, demand outweighs OPEC By Matthew Robinson Matthew Robinson

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis

Congress, Where Are the Investigations?

“In 2002, when the Enron and WorldCom scandal broke, the Congress held hearings and some chief executives were jailed. Who did what was the big story in the major news media almost every night. Congress rushed to enact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002. The act placed unnecessary, onerous and costly accounting standards on American businesses. The Enron and WorldCom debacle is a drop in the bucket compared to the financial mess that Congress has created through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in the name of “affordable” housing. Have you heard Congress calling for hearings?”

— Walter Williams

Speaking of investigations:

Obama money from abroad could total $3.3 million

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has raised about $3.3 million from contributors who did not list a home state or who designated their state with an abbreviation that did not match one of the 50 states or U.S. territories, according to records provided by the Federal Election Commission.

Most of those contributors did identify themselves as living abroad in foreign cities. Under federal law, foreign citizens cannot make political contributions, but U.S. citizens living abroad can.

The Republican National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday asking for an investigation of Obama’s foreign contributions, among other things

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Congress, Enron, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Government engineered mortgage crisis, housing, investigation, mortgages, Sarbanes-Oxley, subprime mortgage collapse, WorldCom

Dow Jones Falls Again: The Bailout Already a Failure?

Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points (%5.11). Over the last 2 days, it has fallen 878 points.

What does this say about the assumed beneficial purpose of the $800 billion bailout?

All of this three and a half weeks until an election. It’s all a big coincidence?

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , bailout, Dow Jones, Government engineered mortgage crisis

Lehman CEO Contributed Heavily to Democrats

Business & Media Institute: Media Omission: — Richard Fuld gave to Democrats over Republicans nearly 5-to-1 By Jeff Poor

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis, What Liberal Media? , What Liberal Media?, Democrats, Congress, Lehman Brothers, Government engineered mortgage crisis, CEO, Richard Fuld, House Oversight Committee, contributions, Center for Responsive Politics

SHOCKER: Democrat Falsely Smears Republican as “Racist” to Deflect Blame!

In their consistent refusal to take responsibility for ANYTHING, the teenagers of the political world in America, the Democrat Party, will mindless refer to critics as “racist” or “sexist” or “xenophobic” or “homophobic” REGARDLESS of the accuracy of the charge.

This time, the accuser is Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA, gay prostitution), the same jackass who assured Congress that FannieMae/FreddieMac were doing A-OK financially! (Barney is quite a financial genius.)

The fact that he is up to his neck in the mortgage mess and should be investigated immediately doesn’t prevent him for displaying some brass balls in attacking others.

Frank says GOP housing attacks racially motivated By GLEN JOHNSON

“They get to take things out on poor people,” Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. “Let’s be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn’t hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people.”

All of which might be true if Republicans were actually (1) racist and (2) blaming poor people. Democrats would call John Brown or Martin Luther King a racist if it furthered their agenda. It’s their imitation of Tourette’s patients. (Except the poor souls with Tourette’s can’t help their condition.)

From the beginning, Republicans have placed blame where it belongs: on liberal Democrats with zero financial sense.

Nevermind the racism involved in assuming that minorities cannot get a mortgage from their own labor and effort and need the government’s help to do so.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio called Frank’s remarks “a lame, desperate attempt to divert Americans’ attention away from the Democratic party’s obstruction of reforms that would have reined in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and helped our nation avoid this economic crisis.”

“Congressman Frank should retract his ridiculous statements and start taking responsibility for the role he and other top Democrats played in putting Main Street Americans in this mess,” Boehner said.

Retract? Good luck.

Filed under: Crazy liberals, The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Barney Frank, Democrats, Government engineered mortgage crisis, irresponsible politicians

So Much for Calming the Markets

Michelle Malkin asks:

Wasn’t the bailout supposed to calm the financial markets?

Doesn’t seem to be working out that way:

Markets in Asia tumble amid fears of growing financial turmoil

London plunges as banks pump billions into market

US STOCKS-Futures tumble as credit woes fan global rout

You know what they’re going to tell you, don’t you:

It wasn’t enough!

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , Asia, banks, credit, financial, free market, Government engineered mortgage crisis, international, London, market, markets, stock market, stocks

No Need for Bailout. A New Way of Avoiding Eviction!

If you do what this 90 year old lunatic woman did, you can also avoid losing your home.

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis , eviction, Government engineered mortgage crisis, government intervention, mortgage, suicide, woman

The Rapist Blaming the Victim

Every time you hear Democrats or liberals blame the current government engineered mortgage crisis on Republicans, or the Free Market, or Wall Street, imagine a rapist accusing his victim of bringing on his criminal aggression. Because that is exactly what is happening.

Thomas Sowell asks “Do Facts Matter?”

  The current financial bailout crisis has propelled Barack Obama back into a substantial lead over John McCain — which is astonishing in view of which man and which party has had the most to do with bringing on this crisis.

It raises the question: Do facts matter? Or is Obama’s rhetoric and the media’s spin enough to make facts irrelevant?

Fact Number One: It was liberal Democrats, led by Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who for years– including the present year– denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taking big risks that could lead to a financial crisis.

It was Senator Dodd, Congressman Frank and other liberal Democrats who for years refused requests from the Bush administration to set up an agency to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was liberal Democrats, again led by Dodd and Frank, who for years pushed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans, which are at the heart of today’s financial crisis.

Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush’s Secretary of the Treasury, five years ago.

Yet, today, what are we hearing? That it was the Bush administration “right-wing ideology” of “de-regulation” that set the stage for the financial crisis. Do facts matter?

No. Apparently they don’t.

Filed under: The Government Engineered Mortgage Crisis