Do yourself a favor and watch this video and see the corruption for yourself.

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF DEMOCRATS SAYING NOTHING IS WRONG WITH FANNIE MAY AND FREDDIE MAC. FANNIE MAE IS THE LARGEST HOME MORTGAGE UNDERWRITER IN THE USA AND ROUGLY 4 TRILLION IN MORTGAGE LOANS. LOWER STANDARDS ANDEQUAL HOUSING FOR ALL...I THINK NOT.

ENJOY PRISON MR. RAINES, AS YOUR ASS IS GOING TO BE HURTING FOR LONG TIME.

VIDEO

I thought that video got pulled? I guess I was wrong.

GrowRebel said:

The dim leadership is just as dirty and corrupted as the repukes ... both the corporate parties are fucked ... I don't need nor want them ...

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Try telling that to party-liners, though. Fuck, even my party, Libertarians, have been taking fucking stoopid pills.

The economic catastrophe before us was a bipartisn job and pumped by the media. However all that video does is show posturing not mechanism. By mechanism I mean a means which to pump up prices this was done in two ways.

1) Repealing of the glass-segall act. Allowed commercial and investment banks to merge allowing the securitization of MBS to be sold on wall street. This was repealed in 1999 by phil gramm and signed into law by bill clinton. See what happens when republicans and democrats work together

John McCain and Barack Obama's presidential campaigns are pointing fingers at each other's political camps over who were the architects of a 1999 banking deregulation bill many cite as reasons for the current financial and mortgage lending mess on Wall Street.
The 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act broke down barriers between banks, securities firms, mortgage lenders and insurance companies. That deregulation repealed Great Depression-era bank regulations with the approval of former president Bill Clinton.
The Gramm bill encouraged lending during the strong housing market but has put banks, investment houses and insurance companies in peril since the housing bust which started two years ago. The measure allowed those lending money to sell off those loan portfolios to other companies, thus disconnecting the lending risk.

2) And most importantly lending guideline loosening. OFHEO sets the guidelines and this was done 2002-2003ish by Bush appointee.

<i>OFHEO does have the power to control the GSEs underwriting standards:
Commenting on the OFHEO Safety and Soundness regulation (12 CFR part 1720), MICA stated that OFHEO should,
[[Page 19986]]
by regulation, bar the Enterprises from purchase of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities that exceed the 80% LTV. However, the Enterprises are already limited to the purchase of mortgages and
mortgage-backed securities that are similar in risk to those with an 80% LTV. Further, this proposal would not reduce regulatory burden,
which was the subject of this document.
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-37...<i>


3)However, while the bill above may have opened the loophole, it looks like it was Bush who exploited it and certainly played a major role in the housing debacle:
# Expanding Homeownership. The President believes that homeownership is the cornerstone of America's vibrant communities and benefits individual families by building stability and long-term financial security. In June 2002, President Bush issued America's Homeownership Challenge to the real estate and mortgage finance industries to encourage them to join the effort to close the gap that exists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities. The President also announced the goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families before the end of the decade. Under his leadership, the overall U.S. homeownership rate in the second quarter of 2004 was at an all time high of 69.2 percent. Minority homeownership set a new record of 51 percent in the second quarter, up 0.2 percentage point from the first quarter and up 2.1 percentage points from a year ago. President Bush's initiative to dismantle the barriers to homeownership includes:
* American Dream Downpayment Initiative, which provides down payment assistance to approximately 40,000 low-income families;
* Affordable Housing. The President has proposed the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit, which would increase the supply of affordable homes;
* Helping Families Help Themselves. The President has proposed increasing support for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunities Program; and
* Simplifying Homebuying and Increasing Education. The President and HUD want to empower homebuyers by simplifying the home buying process so consumers can better understand and benefit from cost savings. The President also wants to expand financial education efforts so that families can understand what they need to do to become homeowners.
File Not Found...

It's interesting that the housing bubble started at about the same time that Bush issued his America's Homeownership Challenge. I suppose that is just a coincidence?


Anyhoo, I see the clip mentioned above as nothing more than a bunch of Congresspeople blowing hot air (they have no real power because the Presidentially-appointed director of the OFHEO is the only body that has the power to regulate the GSEs). It makes for great political theatre and it allows those Congressfolks to go back to their representatives and say "hey look, I stood up for you and tried to make it easier for you to get a mortgage." But in reality, the Congresspeople have no real power as it was OFHEO (who's director was appointed by the President) who implemented the very lax underwriting standards of the GSEs.

Now, I've done some real research that shows how Bush was mostly responsible for this housing bubble and crash. I look forward to responses from the Bush apologists that show me where I'm wrong. And no, I don't want to see another Rush-Limbaugh-featured YouTube clip that shows a bunch of politicians with no power who were quoted out-of-context.

Now to prove me wrong you must show a mechanism. The law that the Democrats passed that allowed the GSEs to go crazy with loose underwriting, thus causing the housing bubble. If you don't have that you don't have squat...

First prove your assertion that Bush is responsible for this.

The responsibility rests solely on the administration. OFHEO was in charge of lending guidelines(or lack thereof) which is the main cause of the bubble. OFHEO is a presidential appointed position. Couple that with the Phil Gramm (McCains economic advisor) repealing of the glass-segall act, in fairness clinton did sign it into law.

No I am not voting for obama, I just like accuracy and would like to see some accountability. Which does not happen in washington.

The country was neo-conned again.

We are on the verge of complete collapse. The only reason for this bill was to pay back foreign creditors. It will do nothing for the economy.

We are completely and utterly bankrupt. I would not be surprised if the troops in Iraq had to hitch a ride home.

But each and every instance you cite, all the causes you're discussing here, happened before Bush got into office. So I'm failing to see how you're extrapolating that this whole mess lies (mostly) at Bush's feet. OFHEO can only act within the auspices of the laws. How'd the laws get into place? They don't make the laws, do they? And how about HUD? Do they play a role in this at all? After all, one could assert that the whole reason for Gramm-Leach-Bliley was the desire to make lending to those who live near or at the poverty level available so they, too, could buy into the American Dream.

I hold our representatives responsible, and the businesses (lenders) themselves.

I believe the problem to be systemic not in terms of left and right. However if you want to look at in terms of left and right. The majority of the problems lay at the administrations feet because the provided the mechanisms i.e loose lending guidelines enabled by OFEHO which is a presidential appointed position. Couple this with Bush's homeownership challenge and Greenspan's encouraging of risky loans at the height of the bubble just to keep it going a little longer. Hell, the media kept trying to pump it up well over a year after is was dead and bubble bloggers were widespread.

Keep in mind the repealing of glass-segal, which lead to the way mortgages were traded on wall street, was signed into law by Clinton but pushed by McCain's economic advisor Phil Gram and the behind the scenes guy begging for it was, you guessed it, Hanky Panky Paulson. Keep in mind this law was put into place to keep things like this from happening. On one level it's almost as if somebody decided to create the exact same economic dynamics as the depression. Well we got it and we are swan diving head first into it.
All that posturing that the dems do in the video does not add up to a hill of beans in terms of responsibility. They encouraged, big deal. And I am not saying those two scum bags Frank and Dodd are not guilty of something I am sure they are, I just have not looked hard enough to find anything.

Now if you really look hard enough you will notice the politicians are not in charge. They are bought and paid for arms of the Fed, Wall Street, military-industrial complex, energy industry, who really run the show. These entities don't give a shit about national or personal sovereignty.

The glue that keeps this big hoax together is the corp-gov media. The final ax in any possibility of an independent media was slick willy's signing of the Telecommunications Act in 1996 which allowed for deregulation of media. See Clinton was a friend to Republicans with all his deregulation. Now instead of 100 or so media companies we have 5 that own everything. And the owners of these big media conglomerates hang around with there super rich friends in the controlling industries and plot on how to keep you in line. One of the ways they do this is by creating a false dichotomy of left and right. Or I would not go as far as saying creating it, it preys on the difference in people to keep them separated. This gives you the illusion of choice. Makes you feel like part of a tribe that is superior to the other tribe and if anything goes wrong it is the other tribe that is corrupt or stupid. All the while a common agenda gets achieved while throwing emotionally laden issues that they could not care less about for you to fight over. And the best part is it keeps you from looking at the real power structure.
And now to keep us even more divided, and I have to give it to them they were very smart in their selections for presidential candidates. They pair a black man with a muslim name on one side and a creationist, bombs and jesus type on the other. I does not get anymore divisive than that.

So now the richest 400 Americans now have more money stashed away that the combined bottom 150 million Americans. Some $1.6 trillion bucks. Ironically they increased their wealth buy 700 billion over the past eight years.

This was accomplished by selling off or shipping out ever available asset, from jobs to seaports, smashing usury and anti-monopoly laws, raiding the public coffers and manipulating the medium of exchange and blackmailing the peasantry regarding common needs such as heath care and energy to keep their asses warm -- to name a few. The ultimate coup was to convince the entire nation that the well being of the rich, meaning the well being of Wall Street, was indeed the common man's well being.

Ok, got it, good. Go tell your family and friends.

Corrupted by wealth and power, your government is like a restaurant with only one dish. They've got a set of Republican waiters on one side and a set of Democratic waiters on the other side. But no matter which set of waiters brings you the dish, the legislative grub is all prepared in the same Wall Street kitchen.
-- Huey Long

Arraya said:

I believe the problem to be systemic not in terms of left and right.

Click to expand...

Then please elaborate on why you chose to take the tack you did.

Arraya said:

However if you want to look at in terms of left and right. The majority of the problems lay at the administrations feet because the provided the mechanisms i.e loose lending guidelines enabled by OFEHO which is a presidential appointed position.

Click to expand...

I'm not the one who made this a partisan examination of the situation. That rests squarely on your shoulders. I asked you to prove your case that this situation rests mostly at GW's feet, since you stated you had it all lined up. I've gotta say, I'm not seeing it.

Arraya said:

Couple this with Bush's homeownership challenge and Greenspan's encouraging of risky loans at the height of the bubble just to keep it going a little longer.

Click to expand...

Really? You cite Gramm-Leach-Bliley as effectively dismantling Glass-Steagall, yet you don't seem to put the dates and sequences of events together.

Greenspan's appointment came during Reagan's term, did it not? It came to an end in '06. Now, how is it that his appointment is the result of the present administration? Also, would you care to explain how either of these acts were passed without both the Senate and the House approving them? A president cannot make legislation, s/he can only approve it or veto it.

Was Bush's homeownership challenge fundamentally different from Bill's?

Arraya said:

Hell, the media kept trying to pump it up well over a year after is was dead and bubble bloggers were widespread.

Keep in mind the repealing of glass-segal, which lead to the way mortgages were traded on wall street, was signed into law by Clinton but pushed by McCain's economic advisor Phil Gram and the behind the scenes guy begging for it was, you guessed it, Hanky Panky Paulson.

Click to expand...

Ok, if you're gonna cite the Act, it helps everyone reading if you make sure you've got it right. It's the Glass-Steagall Act of '33. It's also known as the Banking Act of 1933. My own interpretation of both acts is somewhat different, as I don't see it as just a case of "how mortgages were traded on Wall Street." In any event, yes, I'll keep it in mind.

Arraya said:

Keep in mind this law was put into place to keep things like this from happening.
On one level it's almost as if somebody decided to create the exact same economic dynamics as the depression. Well we got it and we are swan diving head first into it.

Click to expand...

More like another demonstration of why we are the United States of Amnesia. We've mostly forgotten the Keating Five, too.

Arraya said:

All that posturing that the dems do in the video does not add up to a hill of beans in terms of responsibility. They encouraged, big deal. And I am not saying those two scum bags Frank and Dodd are not guilty of something I am sure they are, I just have not looked hard enough to find anything.

Now if you really look hard enough you will notice the politicians are not in charge. They are bought and paid for arms of the Fed, Wall Street, military-industrial complex, energy industry, who really run the show. These entities don't give a shit about national or personal sovereignty.

The glue that keeps this big hoax together is the corp-gov media. The final ax in any possibility of an independent media was slick willy's signing of the Telecommunications Act in 1996 which allowed for deregulation of media. See Clinton was a friend to Republicans with all his deregulation. Now instead of 100 or so media companies we have 5 that own everything. And the owners of these big media conglomerates hang around with there super rich friends in the controlling industries and plot on how to keep you in line. One of the ways they do this is by creating a false dichotomy of left and right. Or I would not go as far as saying creating it, it preys on the difference in people to keep them separated. This gives you the illusion of choice. Makes you feel like part of a tribe that is superior to the other tribe and if anything goes wrong it is the other tribe that is corrupt or stupid. All the while a common agenda gets achieved while throwing emotionally laden issues that they could not care less about for you to fight over. And the best part is it keeps you from looking at the real power structure.
And now to keep us even more divided, and I have to give it to them they were very smart in their selections for presidential candidates. They pair a black man with a muslim name on one side and a creationist, bombs and jesus type on the other. I does not get anymore divisive than that.

So now the richest 400 Americans now have more money stashed away that the combined bottom 150 million Americans. Some $1.6 trillion bucks. Ironically they increased their wealth buy 700 billion over the past eight years.

This was accomplished by selling off or shipping out ever available asset, from jobs to seaports, smashing usury and anti-monopoly laws, raiding the public coffers and manipulating the medium of exchange and blackmailing the peasantry regarding common needs such as heath care and energy to keep their asses warm -- to name a few. The ultimate coup was to convince the entire nation that the well being of the rich, meaning the well being of Wall Street, was indeed the common man's well being.

Ok, got it, good. Go tell your family and friends.

Click to expand...

You're on to something else, and it's not your case for demonstrating that this situation has resulted from Bush's actions. I'm not saying you're so far off the mark on your other assertions, you say some things I do agree with. I just don't see that you've made the case you said you already had in the ready.

Just for shits and giggles, discounting my signature, would you call me a Bush apologist?

1992...first year clinton was in office. as corrupt as they come. this shit started before bush. however, bush sucked and will get a c from future gens.

in personally don't give fuck about the future, i care about the present.

if you can'r see crooked motherfuckers, that is your problem. frank raines is going to jail. 90 mill in 6 fucking years? and all the dems do is kiss his fucking ass? once again........who is on fannie mae's payroll?