Fannie, Freddie, FUBAR: The Mother of All Bailouts
Oh, triple-crikey. God save us from bipartisanship again. Washington is in a tizzy over the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac financial crisis. The stocks plunged yesterday and a former Fed governor declared them “insolvent.” Keep an eye on the markets this morning for more freefall. Panicked Republicans and Democrats have joined clammy hands to declare their fealty to these behemoth government-sponsored enterprises because they are “too big to fail.” The Drudge headline and descriptions in the MSM of a “takeover” are misleading. The long-troubled, corrupt institutions are already federally chartered, exempt from normal securities regulations, and enjoy multi-billion-dollar lines of credit from the US Treasury. This won’t be a “takeover,” but a massive, ginormous, Mother of All Bailouts:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest buyers of U.S. home loans, are too big for the government to allow them to fail, leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers said.
A government takeover of one or both companies is among several options that have been considered by White House officials, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. Senior Bush administration officials are considering placing either or both firms in a conservatorship if their problems get worse, the person said.
The companies, which own or guarantee about half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages, can count on a federal lifeline, said Republican Senator John McCain, and Democratic Senator Charles Schumer. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to post pretax losses and writedowns of about $77 billion before the U.S. would be compelled to start a rescue, according to estimates by Fox-Pitt Kelton and Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
“They must not fail,” McCain, of Arizona, said yesterday during a campaign stop in Belleville, Michigan. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “are vital to Americans’ ability to own their own homes,” he said at an earlier stop in the state, one of the worst affected by the surge in foreclosures.
The remarks by the presumptive Republican presidential candidate and Schumer, head of the Joint Economic Committee, indicate Congress would push the administration to use government funds to prevent the companies from failing.
The New York Times earlier today reported the government is considering a takeover of the companies, citing people briefed on the plan whom it didn’t name.
This morning, McCain says “I don’t think that there is a requirement for a government bailout” while reiterating that Fannie/Freddie “must not fail.” Cognitive dissonance, desperate straddling, or totally out of touch with reality? Take your pick. Even the free-market WSJ supports a federal bailout. Agh.
I’ve long warned of the inexorable bailout frenzy in the wake of last year’s stimulus-palooza. The Fannie/Freddie rescue will make the Bear Stearns bailout look like chickenfeed.
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This is absolutely a bailout…but whats the other option?…Let the companies fail and loose thousands of jobs and also loose a big part of access to mortgage options?…in a election year.
Theres no other option at all…so I am not sure whats the point of even discussing this as we are stuck with bailout.
Michelle, you hit the nail on the head with the term BI-PARTISAN. Anytime I hear this simple phrase, I want to hide my wallet… Interesting comment on a business show yesterday, we have to be careful to separate the salvageable mortgages from those who just want to turn in their keys to the lender… Some of these homes are so upside down, people just want OUT… Why are we lumping them into a bailout??? For that matter why a bailout to stop the market from correcting??? Nobody in CONGRESS was concerned when housing prices went up 55% in the Phoenix market in 2005…
So our boy Juan Mac is reaching across the isle again. I am convinced that man does NOT WANT to be President of the United States. Perhaps President of the North American Union or La Raza, but not the US.
This election should be a walk for him IF he ran a campaign instead of a touchy feely love feast. So go ahead Juanie Boy Mac bail out Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and lose some more conservative votes.”desperate straddling” seems to be his strong suit.
No one and no company or organization is indispensable. The government should never have had a hand in their formation, anyway.
Jobs may be lost, but there is never a guarantee that your job will be there tomorrow. The disruption will be temporary, and no one should expect their paychecks to be covered using their neighbor’s taxes.
Don’t forget that Fannie Mae is one of the companies highlighted by one of the most successful recent business gurus Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. Perhaps a refund is in order for all pruchasers.
This is another step closer to soicialism.
Why not just nationalize the mortgage industry the same time we nationalize the oil industry? One cash cow offsetting one money pit. /sarc
Maybe I shouldn’t say that, some liberal troll will think it’s a great idea and suggest it to Nancy.
Apparently making loans to illegal immigrants wasn’t a good idea afterall. Around our neck of the woods, the flippers were running wild, no money down, low interest, alot of them got caught in the flip gone bad.
The law ADDI 2003 made loan qualification discrimination. I guess that wasn’t a good idea either.
So, if they have not already failed why must they be bailed out and if bailed out what methods/procedures/policies have they learned to correct and how/when/why. Or is it business as usual because they are so good at what they do. Is Senator McCain now McKeatingFannieMaeFreddieMac. He sure has upgraded his economic expertise for a guy who graduated 895 in a class of 900 (enter Rush Limbaugh old man sound effects).
Watch their stock drop
I always expected that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would one day go down. After all, their leadership is nothing but a bunch of Clintonites and other dems who got cushy jobs and big paychecks as a reward for their loyalty.
Hiring out of patronage rather than qualifications will get you in this sort of mess.
These same people will do a much better job managing our health care cradle to grave, I’m sure.
Not surprising considering their stance on illegal immigration. What’s best for America is nowhere near their radar $creen$.
I suppose its a pipe dream to expect that any bailout money will come from discretionary spending cuts elsewhere.
Obama riding in on his white horse will save the day…. Sorry for the racists ‘white horse’ remark
To Big To Fail? means To big to exist in the first place.
2BIG2B
Maybe on a T-shirt? All right s claimed!
I am sick of this government treating it’s citizens like whimpy, simple-minded fools who must always be protected against anything bad happening in their lives. Most grownups know there are risks in anything you do whether buying a house or driving to work. Some risks you know and can control or minimize, some outside your ability to do anything about. You deal with it, SUCK IT UP, and recover. The government is no there to fix your boo-boo’s.
The F-MaXs and the student versions — both state and federal — are notorious hangouts of the grandly grifted. A number of big lobbyists revolve through them. For example — Jamie Gorelick, who is running for Obama’s Attorney General. She was under-Biggie at Fannie-Mae and did very very well package-wise. She was also the inventor of the “Wall” between CIA-FBI when she was under-Biggie at Justice.
Like George Will said, there are generally three types of households, buyers, renters and owners. A small percentage of the buyers are in trouble. The world will be fine.
and one more thing…McCain distanced himself from Phil Graham for saying the very same thing Neil Hennessy said in a letter I opened yesterday. While my Hennessy fund is not exactly ripping the stratosphere right now, everyone knew a correction was in order.
Idiots, Morons, Ingrates, let the market decide. Every time the government gets involved in something it ends up being as MM said FUBAR.
“The most terrifying words in the English langauge are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Ronald Reagan
Will these motherfricking politicians leave well enough alone and let the market correct itself?
Really, it’s rather silly now that I would have to take out a $500,000 mortgage just so I can purchase an outhouse on one square feet of land.
Yet another opportunity for the “privately owned Fed” to acquire more assets and control.
…and we’re paying for it!
Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY PAULSON SAYS NO BAILOUT FOR MORTGAGE GIANTS FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC PLANNED AT THIS TIME
All due respect Michelle, you aren’t in mortgages and thus your cynicism is warranted but also rather naive. The reality is that without Fannie and Freddie there is no mortgage market. Fannie and Freddie don’t merely insure and securitize loans, but they underwrite them as well. Over 60% of mortgages are insured, securitized, and underwritten by these two entities.
The problem isn’t that we need to bail them out, we do. The problem is how we found ourselves in a system where these two entities are so powerful that we need to bail them out.
You are analyzing the wrong part of the problem.
This is a natural result of US socialism. We have a socialistic educational system, and we have a socialistic financial system. The fed answers to no one. They screw up and tax payers bail them out.
This whole situation was easy to foresee. 100 percent loans (and 125 percent equity lines) on over priced real estate (the result of the easy loans) at artificially deflated interest rates. Eventually the bubble burst and we are left with the fallout.
Even the Capitalists like Kramer is asking for the taxpayers to bail out the fed and the two monopolies.
We are going bankrupt.
You left off:
D. All of the above
What is it about always thinking that institutions or companies like that cannot be allowed to go under? The market is like a game — those who win win, and those who lose lose. And we all know what should happen to losers, right?
If one can’t cut it, get it off the market and make room for someone else to give it a shot.
#21 Mike Volpe: Your analysis is wrong. Fannie & Freddie don’t need to be “bailed” out, they need to have responsible, accountable management.
No more Political Appointments to head Fannie and Freddie, like Jim Johnson, former Chief of Staff to Walter Mondale and best friend of many Democrats (Obama, Kent Conrad, etc.), who simply took advantage of his position to get favorable mortgages and do business with the fat cats. He should be put in JAIL. Obama awarded him with a place on his VP Selection Team, now there is judgement you can take to the bank (right to their personal bank accounts).
Look it’s bird, it’s a plane, it’s Democrats Doubling the National Debt in a Single Day!!!
And your dollar is worth what?
FUBAR?
Is that Flubbed Up By Any/All Reasoning?
And the answer is…………
Congress, which created Fannie Mae during the Great Depression and formed Freddie Mac in 1970
LOL
That too.
The organizations exist to promote first time homeownership and millions of people have benefited from their existence.
The problem was not so much the size of the company, but rather that they were underwriting a ton of risky (i.e. subprime loans)and upper management was too incompetent to see that this was going to be a problem.
This is what happens when large organization s run but idiots who got their position through patronage rather than merit. They need to be shown the door and given no compensation.
It’s clear that there needs to be significant changes in the rules of hiring and underwriting so this doesn’t happen again.
Freddie Mac has been poorly run and mismanaged for years. Meanwhile it’s executives have been earning MILLIONS in salary and bonuses.According to the FreddieMac website:
CEO Richard F. Syron salary and Bonuses for 2008 will be:
BASE SALARY; $1.3 Million
Bonuses; $3.5 Million
Adjusted Annual Equity(stocks) $9.4 Mil
TOTAL $14.2 Million in cash and stock
I don’t think they termed it a “bailout” when Bear Sterns was rescued by JP Morgan. I don’t think they termed it a “bailout” when Countrywide was shotgun-married to Bank of America. Just like McCain is not for “amnesty”.
Any bailout will trash the dollar. We are kind’ve screwed as a country… and I’ve always been one to cast an eye on the people who say “US becoming a member of the third world”… but look around. If the suburbs are killed by expensive oil, that means we are going to be living in tighter quarters in the cities… some cities are already over-crowded.
I didn’t hear too many people complain about the negative effects when house-prices were skyrocketing well beyond what a reasonable person would be willing to afford. In fact I bet the average reader of this web-site was cheering on the economy. Raise your hand if at one time you believed “house prices only go up”. How come no one challenged that mantra on the way up? Even our buddy Mr. Limbaugh as of a month or two ago was talking that “our economy is healthy…”.
Re: 17
You are absolutely wrong about that. We are seeing a cascading negative feedback loop among the buyers. As more people get foreclosed on those property values decrease, and are sold at bargain prices which impacts similar properties in the neighborhood. As this happens more people find themselves “underwater” and choose to stop making payments (because the property is not worth it) or suck it up. The rational thing to do would be to stop making payments if you can afford the hit on your credit… as house values will likely never skyrocket like they have in this period of time.
Bankers are now understanding why it was important to take 20% down in the first place… that 20% investment would make someone think twice before just walking away… but someone who has put 0% down is actually just a glorified “renter” in many cases.
My grandfather sat me down when I very young and said that the worst thing that could happen to a man was to “have to go on the state.” By that he meant that a MAN works hard, takes care of his family, and would rather DIE then become a loser that takes welfare money.
My grandpa worked very hard, and a big motivating factor was that he had pride and wouldn’t take what wasn’t his.
How have we come to this? How have we come to a point where everyone wants “free stuff”. I am so sick of these people. Washington and the liberal fools in California already have their fingers deep in my wallet, and as soon as the Obamasiah is elected, there will be an even bigger black hole in Washington sucking up my money and giving it to illegals, morons, slackers and losers.
FUBAR
That’s good money for running a company into the ground! I could have done it for half.
If it’s any consolation, his stock isn’t worth near that anymore.
Good points too…As I mentioned above (#1), although this is bailout, theres not much option. But ‘Malkin business model’ will not stop her from making exaggerated statements!
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 07/11/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
On July 11th, 2008 at 11:15 am, taylork said:
Adjusted Annual Equity(stocks) $9.4 Mil
If it’s any consolation, his stock isn’t worth near that anymore.
#35 Taylork
If the government bails them out it will
I guess I’m not average, I said when it started going up and up and up, “The bubble’s gonna burst and a bunch of people are going to be left in the cold.” and no I did’nt believe that house prices only go up mainly because some of the value depends on how my neighbors keep their houses up and I have no control over that. I’m not really concerned about the value of my house because I will live here till I die.
tarpon, you nailed it exactly, good post.
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! And give now ear to my words!
The Lord Obama and his faithful Squire, Called “The Mighty One”, even that John the McCain, shall Sallie[sic] forth upon their White Chargecards, wielding those Ensorcered Blades of Legend: The Mighty Swords of Bipartisanship! Riding on a Quest Perilous! Charging over the King’s Highway, New Tone, and Swinging those Twin Blades, their Enchanted Irons, with Mighty
Tongue LashingsSinews Writhing, to Slay yon Foul Dragon!Lo, Even that Most Evil Of Dragons, Capi Tolism!
Huzzah, Huzzah! And Rejoice you serfs in our Protectors!
Again, all due respect, when you are outside the system you can make trivial political statements. This has nothing to do with political appointments and only someone with a partisan slant would make such a comment.
The problem is that these two entities wield so much power that it creates a moral hazard as such they take risks they normally wouldn’t. The government created them to create economies of scale, but they also created a natural moral hazard, and thus, the real problem is the structure of both which allows them to control the entire mortgage market.
err, should read:
“…The Mighty Swords: Bipartisanship…”
That is from the article linked in the post. I say let them fail. The housing market is already turning itself around in Northern Virginia in the Washington area. There are multiple bids for houses in my section of Fairfax County, houses are selling for more, and are selling quickly. It has now turned into a seller’s market in some places again.
Part of the crisis was that people were investing in houses they couldn’t afford. For instance in Northern Virginia, gamblers were purchasing several houses just to turn around and sell them. They got burned. Why bail these people and loan companies out?
The market will straighten itself out, which it has already in some places without bailouts.
2007 was not a good year for Fannie Mae. Despite its problems, each of their top 6 executive officers were paid over $1 million each in cash compensation, with their CEO raking in cash of over $3 million. Adding 2007 awards of stock into the compensation mix, total compensation of the Fannie’s top executive officers ranged from a low of $4.4 million to $14.4 million for their 2007 compensation. Incredible as it may sound, cash and total compensation for Fannie’s executive officers was actually MORE in 2007 than it was in 2006.
Of course, the argument for that level of income is that they need to pay those salaries to attract qualified executives. However, what you never hear is that Fannie has a huge competitive advantage in the marketplace. They borrow directly from the treasury at rates not available to other financial institutions and they are exempt from state and local taxes. And because they are “government sponsored” the implicit government guarantee of their obligations allows them to price their securities issues more attractively than private industry. This has resulted in a de facto government sponsored monopoly in terms of its competitive advantages in the market. How much talent do you need to run a government monopoly?
Of course, these compensation levels pale to the compensation paid during the mortgage boom. Perhaps the government needs to hold its own creations to the same degree of responsibility that Congress has imposed on private industry through Sarbanes Oxley and other laws. If they did, they just might need to add some additional federal prosecutors to handle the increased workload.
I believe in capitalism and in the people of this country. If fanny and freddy go under, another private entity will fill the vacuum, because there is money to be made. Without the government to back them up they will have to do a better job or go down the tubes.
By the way – does anyone pay attention to the fact that home purchases are going up?
I’m afraid “Suck it up” doesn’t apply here. BOHICA seems to make more sense.
Tarpon said:
Exactly. That is what people were doing in this area, and many illegal immigrants as well.
If we bail out these companies, what incentive is there for them to change? It will be worse down the road.
Let them fail. New companies will take their place, and these new companies will not give loans to illegals investing in five or more properties to sell to other illegals at higher prices. The market will straighten itself out.
These can’t be allowed to fail: remember, you take federal $, you’ve got to respond to federal control.
Just one more string. Anyone feel like Gulliver yet?
Re: 47
Check out this post made over at the Calculated Risk blog.
I know the media reports it as a “sales increase” but a month-to-month jump is a joke… its the yearly changes that will make you soil your pants. Again, don’t trust what you see in the headlines, even if its “good news”.
One more new headline for this. Who is the beneficiary of the bailout?
Chinese Government is Top Foreign Holder of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bonds
Link is here
…
…
mike volpe #42
Mike, are you in the financial field?
I would be interested in reading about this in greater detail.
The MSM and Dems have an interest in making the economy appear horrible, when it is not the case, in order to make Americans feel miserable and vote for the Obamunist. The market in Northern Virginia is now a seller’s market, and they are selling quite quickly with multiple offers common.
There was some good economic news today. Exports have grown to their highest rate ever. Apparently, a “weak” dollar isn’t so bad except for oil prices. (Thanks to Dems we are dependent on foreign oil.)
Also, we are not in recession. Some people need to go back to their Econ 101 classes. A recession is two quarters of NEGATIVE growth. Our economy is still growing and will until the Obamunist comes into power.
Any bailout is just more support for stupidity. It is quite possible that the housing prices would not have been driven up so fast if these morgages didn’t go to unqualified people. Everyone saw dollar signs and no risk and now their house of cards has come tumbling down. LET THEM ALL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS. We all live life just 1 minute away from a personnal disaster. A car accident or serious illness could ruin anyone. These people created this mess by being greedy.
Hey, I don’t care anymore I just went to the mailbox and I won the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.
On July 11th, 2008 at 11:49 am, Gabe said:
I could have sworn that said experts. (Though given the number of gasbags out there, I hope that doesn’t seem too unreasonable of me.)
Yet another corrupt privately-owned and government sanctioned scam for the pin-stripe suited pirates of Wall Street.
Reading thru Fannie’s charter you get the full picture: Fannie Mae was created in 1938, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at a time when millions of families could not become homeowners, or risked losing their homes, for lack of a consistent supply of mortgage funds across America.
The government established Fannie Mae in order to expand the flow of mortgage funds in all communities, at all times, under all economic conditions, and to help lower the costs to buy a home.
In 1968, Fannie Mae was re-chartered by Congress as a shareholder-owned company, funded solely with private capital raised from investors on Wall Street and around the world.
…by the bankers and for the bankers…and we all pay for it!
#56….dude, have you actually gotten out into America and seen what’s happening. Sure, things are depression-like but not all is as rosy as the Stock-market prognosticators would have you think.
Yes, there are a lot of
expertsliberals out there wanting us to bail out companies that should go under. There are a lot ofeconomic expertsMSM reporters trying to make the economy seem as bad as possible when THEY are the problem. Will they ever admit that our nation is not in recession (two quarters of negative growth; we haven’t even had one) and that the main economic obstacles right now are themselves?After all, they don’t ever want us to achieve energy independence by drilling in ANWR and off our shores. The main problem in our economy right now are gas prices, thanks to liberals.
Also, the “experts,” the ones at Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac have gotten themselves in trouble by loaning to illegal aliens and gamblers buying numerous properties for a quick buck. Let’s not bail out these financial “experts.” The housing market is already turning itself around in many places by itself.
The reason they plunged is because this idiot spoke. Yes there is a direct cause and effect that happens when idiots do things like this.
mike volpe #42 and others,
While the problems are not related exclusively to political appointees, there is something to the charge when you wind up with clueless senior management in control of such enormous enterprises.
In 2003 Freddie Mac was required to restate their earnings for 2000, 2001, and 2002 to the tune of $9.9 Billion because they were using “substantially non-standard accounting” techniques and agreed to start using approved accounting techniques.
A year or so later I believe that it was Fannie Mae that needed to restate its earnings because someone made a $1.5 Billion mistake in an Excel spreadsheet that was carried through to the point of reporting earnings that were off by that amount.
Now I think that $1.5B or $9.9B represents real money, but somehow those problems were missed by the entire management teams at these lenders. You’d think that someone would be familiar enough with their company’s pattern of performance to catch such grievous errors, but they were either incompetent or totally out of touch.
Neither speaks well for the two largest lenders – let alone Congressionally chartered entities.
I’m really interested in the definition here of a “subprime” loan. Most of the deep subprime loans (LOW FICO, no money, minimum wage type jobs sometimes) are the ones that are going belly up. A lot of these loans went to the Bear Stearns, Impac Mortgage and the like. They weren’t sold to Fannie or Freddie. And. Fannie and Freddie don’t underwrite loans for approval, by the way. Their lending partners do (direct lenders, banks, brokers), utilizing Desktop Underwriter, an “artificial intelligence” system. Guidelines are negotiated between Fannie and the lender.
First, the definition of sub prime is any loan that is done by a non prime bank. Most loans are prime, and those are insured and securitized by Fannie and Freddie. The banks that deal with these loans are prime banks. Besides doing loans insured by Fannie and Freddie, they also create a few of their own loans known as Alt A or portfolio loans.
Banks that don’t deal with Fannie and Freddie are sub prime banks and they deal with borrowers that are more marginal.
As for upper management at Fannie and Freddie. I won’t defend them. They are all likely incompetent, but frankly, that is all besides the point. If Microsoft is run incompetently, we aren’t going to bail out the company. Thus, the question becomes why do we need to bail out these two.
Well, its because they dominate mortgages so much that without them there is no mortgage market. As someone else pointed out this is all at the behest of Congress. Thus, our politicians created a system in which these two are too powerful to fail.
Mimi, unless I have been mistaken for the last six plus years of my career, your statement about DO, DU, and LP, is misleading. Those are all software systems created by Fannie and Freddie to be the underwriting engines. Terms are NOT if I understand correctly negotiated. In fact, they are uniform. If a loan is approved through one of these systems, it is approved no matter what bank you go to. As such, Fannie and Freddie, through DO, DU, and LP, act as the underwriter.
How am I supposed to afford all of this on top of the price of gasoline? hmmmmm? anybody?
Mike, No, I did not mean to imply that the TERMS regarding usage of the UW systems are negotiable. I meant the actual commitments negotiating the sale of loans between Fannie/Freddie and the lender. I should have been more clear. Thanks.
Also, since the lender I was with was regulated by the OCC, there were certain loans that were approved or approved with conditions by DU or LP that we would still not do. Manufactured housing for one and that was prior to it blowing up.
Run for office…then nothing will be beyond your reach. You husband will also get a two hundred thousand dollar raise to boot.
30 pcs of silver said:
Just siphon it from all those people driving with the Obama 08′ stickers in New York; they’ll never know the difference.
This idiot has been saying the same thing for years. The difference is that now the MSM has a vested interest in making our economy look as bad as possible so their savior can get elected.
Phil Gramm was spot on.
We are in a recession. There is an old saying. Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure. So change the formula’s and guess what, the GDP takes a tick upwards. Just ignore the diminishing value of the dollar.
If you factor the falling dollar into the equation, we are deeply in a recession.
If the government wants to run a mortgage company then run the damn thing. When bad decisions are made deal with it, foreclose the homes, sell the properties, take the loss, go bankrupt, close the business. Do all the things a normal company would do.
Does anybody have any thoughts on this: how does this bailout or takeover play to the concept of individual property ownership? Are we seeing the beginnings of loss of private property?
I can’t see any kind of relief for the home owner without reams of bureaucratic gobbeldegook that will amount to government “ownership” of your property.
hmmmmmmmmmmmm
PC is Thought Control
LEE
Actually blind, if you read the fine print you have to pay Ed’s defaulted loan off.
You mean we can’t just keep spending more than we make? What fun is THAT?
CLEARLY you aren’t as smart as Obama or McCain, who assure me that all of these defaults are covered, that big oil is to blame for all of this, and that the special deals that congress gets on loans is part of the solution.
Seriously, you people need to wise up. Aren’t you listening to John and Barack?
I’m beginning to wonder how many more bad private business decision we taxpayers are going to be stuck bailing out at this rate. Next they are going to tell us how we will be picking up the tab for bad car loans or irresponsilbe credit card debt. I shudder at what Congress will do with socialized medicine after seeing how they have helped create this economic train wreck along with a manmade energy crisis.
I learned that lesson back in the 90’s, when I invested in a biotechnology mutual fund. Every time Hillary Clinton opened her yap about health care, I lost money.
martin.musculus (jr)
How’s your dad?
Well, IndyMac Bank was just seized by the FDIC. Having sold or shut down their lending operations withing the last couple of weeks, there is nothung left.
Interesting that Schumer is being blamed as the reason for the run on the bank that forced the regulators hands when IndyMac could not meet its liquidity needs. Apparently, Chuckie sent out some communication in which he raised serious concerns regarding IndyMac, which communication was followed by a run by depositors. Looks like Schumer may have just cost taxpayers a few billion dollars.
From the Office of Thrift Supervision press release about IndyMac federal takeover. http://www.americanbanker.com/media/pdfs/OTS_Closes_IndyMac.pdf
Could have sworn this was illegal – some Depression Era law making it a crime to bad-mouth banks – for this very reason.
Thank you for asking. I have an update I’ve been re-writing for the last week, but uncertain about posting it on Dad’s blog.
There is little change in condition, but EEG & scans show normal brain activity.
(Now the part I’ve been uncertain about posting: )
The previous Dr. incharge due to his advanced age, we should opt to have hydration withheld. When he told us that, and became insistant, Step-Mom blew through
like a hurricane, and got the doctor removed. His current Dr said that there is no reason he can see for the continued coma, but that he’s getting pressure from above to insist the same as the first. He told us (privately) that we might want to move him to longterm care… “someplace a little less political”, was his closing thought on it.
I guess I’ve been doing something Dad’d been on my tail about: I’ve been avoiding my responsibility, (writing about his status on his blog to keep informed all the well-wishers who keep filling his inbox,) because by day’s end I’m tired of fighting with it.
Tomorrow we move Dad, but I WILL have a more complete update by late Sat./early Sunday.
Thank you all again. I am certain Dad knows about your prayers and good wishes!
Michelle,
Sorry about going so off topic.
God Bless Your Dad, I know what it’s like talking to these Practioner’s, I won’t say Doctor’s because they are just practicing. I will keep him and your family in my prayers.
Rest assured K. B. Hutchison will rush in to bail out this group, she just finished killing the fence in Texas and gushing about how wonderful it was to ‘help’ all these poor illegals that lied to get a mortgage.
So now Chucky Shumer talks down Indy Bank
and the depositors clean out $1.3 billion
in 10 days leaving it insolvent. Now the taxpayer is on the hook for 8 billion.
Who does Shumer take his orders from?
Doesn’t anyone see what happened here?
Tora bora;
The blood on the hands of Schumer on this is there for anyone to see.
The letter he intentionally leaked to a sympathetic press was the beginning.
Who is behind Schumer and this debacle?
We will have to pursue vigorously to discover.
Republican biparisanship means that the Democrats get what they want. Democrat bipartisanship means that the Democrats get what they want. John McCain makes me sick.
Anyone with half a brain would be able to discern that we should let Freddie and Fannie die just as we should have let Bear Stearns, et. al. die.
The ONLY “fix” for the Federal Government is to force it to shrink back to its constitutional size. I don’t think the Constitution says anything about Freddie or Fanny.