Comments on: VIDEO: Limbaugh and Leno Enjoy Spirited Political Talk

By: garment sales worldwide

garment sales worldwide — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:19:27 +0000

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By: Individualist

Individualist — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:56:51 +0000

Yes I have seen this. Thanks for posting it here

Two things to point out that are equally disgusting. OFHEO, the regulator of Fannae Mae was disbanded in 2008 after the debacle as part of the Tarp legislation. Their last report was I believe 2008 which means that if you want to see who is regulating Fannae today you go to a different agency. To my mind this is a white wash to cover up what OFHEO uncovered.

The next is if you read the 2005 annual report you will see reference to internal control errors. Further digging and you see that the auditors issued an adverse opinion on Fannae Mae's financial statements. That means simply that the numbers on the statement are meaningless and that management's decisions are at fault. If it were because of lax record keeping it would be a disclaimer.

This makes Enron executives look like honest girl scouts selling cookies door to door in comparison.

By: Individualist

Individualist — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:56:17 +0000

Yes I have seen this. Thanks for posting i here

Two thuings to point out that are equally disgusting. OFHEO, the regulator of Fannae Mae was disbanded in 2008 after the debacle as part of the Tarp legislation. Their last report was I believe 2008 which means that if you want to see who is regulating Fannae today you go to a different agency. To my mind this is a white wash to cover up what OFHEO uncovered.

This makes Enron executives look like honest girl scouts selling cookies door to door in comparison.

By: LLOROB

LLOROB — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:55:59 +0000

Quite right, we go staight from "A" hearing about the problem to "Z" complaining about whomever they tell us is at fault. Somehow its never the politician.

For Chrysler and Fiats sake, I hope Italy doesn't run out of money before we do.
Fortunately or unfortunately the unions temporarily in control so money isn't a
problem with the large amount of viagra money still available from Obama.

By: evanpastor

evanpastor — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:05:35 +0000

nice info vince. Despite the fact that this whole mess got blamed on McCain and Repubs, (McCain was up by two points over Obama when Bear Stearns went under) clearly, Bush and the Repubs tried to correct and stave off the mortgage bubble (as shown in the video link I posted). Bush made 17 different moves to try to reel it in. Dems saw it as racist and attempt to deny American dream to all (surprise). I remember during Clinton era how much grief the Dems were giving mortgage lenders about "redlining," not extending enuf mortgages to low income areas. They threw race card at them and threatened sanctions if they did not lend more to everyone and anyone. This was, as you say, an implicit govt. loan guarantee and of course many of the loans came thru FHA/Fannie/Freddie. Some brokers got greedy though and pushed paper as fast as they could. If you can't beat em, join em. The bond raters also stamped AAA ratings on the packaged mortgages – again b/c of govt guarantees.

Some conservatives say the govt could have let the big financials go under, but b/c of govt guarantees of so many of the loans, the govt would have still been legally liable to someone. I wonder if the TARP should have been bottom up. You know, directly pay off the defaulting loans. Do you think that would have cost more or less?

By: VinceP1974

VinceP1974 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:06:10 +0000

evan: The economic collapse (as manifested in the Real Estate Bubble) was the result of a Perfect Storm of unusual economic activity

Unfortunately , the reasons are many and no one thing can take all the blame.

However I have distilled it to this:

The Government broke the economic risk model for banks loaning money

The Government broke the economic risk model for investors buying securitized mortgages

Breaking the Risk Model of Loaning Money..

It started with CRA and SubPrime but it didnt end there. Once those things destroyed the historical loaning standard , the standards were destroyed for all real estate loaning.

Thus Leftists will play their "gotcha" game of saying that SubPrime mortgages were only some tiny share of all mortagages. But the point is irrelevent.. their damage was due to their effect on loaning standards , not their economic value

In Regards to investing in securitized Mortgages

The Govt established the architecture of the Secondary Mortgage Mortgage and told Wall St and the World to invest in these things because that will make it possible to have more cash to make mortgage loans.

The GSEs had an implicit Federal Guarantee for the loans it was involved and it also had access to credit as if it was the US Govt… it's Securitizations were considered as safe as cash.

So these fundamental destructions of a market that EVERYONE assumed was safe happened at the very worst time

- The US Stock Market had just collapsed when Tech Bubble disappeared
- The US was in a recession
- The FED was giving away money for free
- 9/11 Happened
- The Govt was doign all it could to get mortgages to everyone
- Wall St was playing with new ways to hedge risky investments

The Democrats focus on that last thing almost exclusively.. but it was their policies that destroyed the traditional mortgage market and the emergence of the insolvant and stupid secondary mortgage model.

By: Individualist

Individualist — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:28:31 +0000

What's on Second
I Don't Know Third Base

Point taken. I am told that even today the Italian government holds interests in Italian corporations. We will have to demand it. Problem is you talk accounting to the masses you put them to sleep.

By: VengeanceIsMine

VengeanceIsMine — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:40:43 +0000

Well, I am a pharmacist and I would love to debate Rush. The problem is we would agree too much. I would love to be his wingman whilst we debate some left wing hacks like Gore, Olbermann or Obama himself. As far a drug dependency goes, are you trying to be funny? Ask Heath Ledger’s family if it's funny, pal. If you are trying to be serious, what is the debate? Athletes get hooked on pain killers all the time. All drugs have risks. Cost / benefits have to be weighed in most medical decisions.

By: LLOROB

LLOROB — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:26:38 +0000

I may be wrong but wasn't the result of that audit the reason Dubya tried to correct the situation with a bill that received a negative vote that was captained by the same Barney
"don't call me from the basement while I'm at work" Frank and his cohorts. If I may philosophize just a smidgen We at some point have to have an honest, don't laugh, government, or as honest as possible. Obama is taking us close to the point of no return. If we are fortunate to clean sweep and the folks installed are no better than the ones we replaced then governance of the AIG shares fraud will be small potatoes. Possibly, in a way, I'm ducking your question but I have to believe we will have honest oversight of these companies until we divest ourselves of these properties including the Auto Cos.
These days I prefer Costellos quote' whose on first?"

By: Individualist

Individualist — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:30:29 +0000

The fact that this is not part of the discussion in the news cycle is disconcerting to me. Let's say Obama fails to pass Ocare. We will think we have a major victory. Will anyone be talking about how many shares of AIG stock are still controlled by congress. LEt's say that an executive at a company majority owned by the government commits an Enron style fraud. Will the justice department have pressures not to allow it to be revealed.

Did you know that Fannae Mae had an adverse audit opinion in 2005. Barney Frank swept it under the rug. Honestly the prospect of this is scary. It is Fascism, the Third Way government ownership of corporations. When Corps are separate from the government they can be regulated by them. When they are not there is no segregation of duties.

As Jovenal said of Plato "Who will guard the guardians"