Archive » Subprime crisis

GOP members of the House Oversight Committee have put out a report analyzing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s role in the housing meltdown.
The Hill summarizes:
“The housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to a financial crisis can be traced back to the federal government intervention in the U.S. housing market intended to help provide [...]

Beware the grubby paws (hat tip - Will Amos):
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has a plan to funnel income from the government’s $700 billion bailout fund toward the housing sector.
The powerful Massachusetts Democrat last week quietly introduced legislation that aims to use $1 billion in dividends paid by the recipients of government aid [...]

I don’t know about you, but the idea of anyone in Washington fuming about fine print while they ram thousand-page bills through Congress that no one bothers to read is, well, triple-snort-worthy:
President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday to create a new agency to police the fine print on consumer products like credit cards and [...]

The WSJ broke the news on Friday about Obama’s new “pay czar,” Kenneth Feinberg.
His official title as executive-pay-limiter-in-chief: Special Master of Compensation.
Can’t wait to see his logo.
Next up: Obama appoints the…
…Distinguished Overlord of Oxygen Intake (to limit individual human carbon emissions);
…Royal Captain of Calorie Consumption (to limit weight gain and end obesity);
…Exalted Diva [...]

Photoshop credit: George at Elegant Memories
There have been several interesting and informative blog posts published recently on the Chrysler dealership closure “hit list.”
Posts by Joey Smith, Doug Ross, and on Free Republic shed light on the campaign contributions of the targeted dealers — who happen to lean Republican.
Is Obama capable of such Chicagoland thug tactics? [...]

Photoshop: Doug Powers
Hey, remember that bullcrap about how if we forked over billions in tax dollars to bail out the auto companies, we’d not only get our money back, we’d actually make a profit?
Yeah. Never mind:
General Motors Corp’s (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a [...]

Your lunchtime must-read from Steven Malanga in the City Journal: Obsessive Housing Disorder.
Bottom line:
Ultimately, the goal should be to end subsidies that amount to a government project to direct homeownership to places where Washington believes it should be taking place. That kind of political meddling in this vast marketplace has wreaked havoc time and again, [...]

Washington can’t meet the Cheerios Standard
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
I think it’s time we applied the same advertising standards to Washington’s legislative products that the feds apply to breakfast foods. The Food and Drug Administration rapped General Mills this week for making misleading claims about the benefits of Cheerios. The food manufacturer says the whole-grain [...]

Hey, the amorphous TARP bailout program has been used for everything else under the sun, why not as a cover for debt-laden California?
Barney Frank thinks it’s a peachy idea:
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer on Wednesday formally requested federal help to backstop a wave of short-term borrowing the cash-strapped state will need to undertake this summer.
In a [...]

The fraud-ridden money pit known as Fannie Mae needs more of your money.
Who among the Fannie-kissers in Congress will say no?
Say goodbye to another $19 billion:
Fannie Mae (FNM.P), the largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding, said on Friday it needs more capital from the U.S. Treasury after a $23.2 billion loss in the [...]

Democrat Rep. Laura Richardson is back from her Congressional Black Caucus rendezvous with Fidel Castro, but her head is apparently still in the clouds. She continues to neglect one of the many homes she has defaulted on — and her neighbors are getting sick and tired of it:
Known as much for her house troubles [...]

David Kellerman, 41, the chief financial officer of troubled government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac, reportedly killed himself sometime last night or early this morning. Family members contacted police before 5 am after discovering the body in his Fairfax VA home. Lots of speculation and wild-eyed conspiracies already taking off.
Yes, Freddie Mac is in financial meltdown. Yes, [...]

BamWow!

Yes, Virginia, the Obama administration is still living in fantasy land — and wants to rope you into it, too. Here’s a coffee-spurting headline for you this morning. Turn your head away from your computer screens upon reading:
U.S. Imagines the Bailout as an Investment Tool
Wait, wait. It gets better:
During World War I, Americans were exhorted [...]

Gulp.

Wah.

There was a big dog-and-pony show earlier today led by Tiny Tim Geithner, who announced bold new initiatives to crack down on mortgage scammers and shut down irresponsible lenders cooking the books.
Speaking of mortgage scammers who cooked the books, when will they shut down Fannie and Freddie and go after their enablers in Congress?
Oh, [...]

If it’s Monday…

“My man.”

Uh. Hello?

Prescription for pain.

Scroll for updates…

Photoshop credit: George of Elegant Memories

The Obama administration is swaggering over its firing of GM CEO Richard Wagoner and its demand for more restructuring concessions from GM and Chrysler before they dole out more money.
But the bottom line is, despite their threats to withhold the funds, the feds will eventually give them the [...]

$%^&*!!

Swallowing the Crap Sandwich.

Now what?
Last week, the Obama administration brought us a $1 trillion Federal Reserve magic trick hatched by the David Copperfield School of Economic Recovery — printing up a trillion bucks and “pumping it into the U.S. economy”…by buying up bonds and mortgage securities…sold and backed by the government.
Today, hapless, truth-challenged tax cheat Treasury Secretary Tim [...]

More after-the-fact Kaubki outrage from members of Congress who stampeded over each other to fork out massive bailout funds: Turns out that 13 firms who accepted bailout money owe $220 million in back taxes.
Future Obama nominees!
Thirteen of the companies receiving billions in federal bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in delinquent [...]

Presto change-o!

Ed Morrissey: If AIG’s retention bonuses are a problem, why aren’t Freddie Mac’s?
Barney Frank was unavailable for comment…

Calling bull.

Kabuki Theater of Outrage.