Almost laughable...
Working at a bank, I get comments almost daily about the downturn in the economy and the bailouts and the scandals and the sub-prime mortgage crisis... I could go on and on. Also almost daily, those comments are almost always followed by, "Do you think we'll ever get out of this mess that Bush got us in?"
Now, being in the position I'm in, it would be extremely unprofessional for me to spout my true thoughts to those customers. I just have to smile and nod and try to remain as neutral as possible. However, this blog allows me to set the record straight without having to tell it to my customers' faces. Here's what really happened:
April 2001: The 4-month-old Bush Administration produces its 2002 budget, and declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE (Government-Sponsored Enterprise) could cause strong repercussions in financial markets."
Jan. 22, 2003: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years due to earnings manipulations.
June 11, 2003: Freddie Mac is the subject of federal securities and criminal investigations.
Sept. 11, 2003: "The Bush Administration," reports The New York Times, "recommend[s] the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." This recommendation was thwarted by Democrats in Congress, particularly Barney Frank...
Sept. 25, 2003: Mr. Frank, in response to the Bush Administration's effort: "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country... I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists." At this point, Fannie and Freddie control over half the mortgage market in the country.
Oct. 29, 2003: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.
June 16, 2004: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman repeats the Bush Administration call for "a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banking System."
Oct. 6, 2004: Franklin Raines, longtime Democrat hack and Fannie Mae CEO, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee that his company's "assets are so riskless that the capital for holding them should be under two percent." This enticed powerful banks to buy up trillions of dollars worth of Fannie Mae's sub-prime mortgages.
April 18, 2006: Freddie Mac pays a record $3.8 million Federal Election Commission fine.
May 23, 2006: Fannie Mae's regulator announces that Fannie Mae has for years overstated reported income and capital by $10.6 billion.
May 25, 2006: Sen. John McCain calls for GSE regulatory reform legislation, warning: "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole."
Nov. 7, 2006: Democrats win majorities in both houses of Congress. As they take the helm, the U.S. economy is growing at about 3 percent, unemployment is at 4.5 percent, inflation under 2 percent. And they are about to sabotage all of it.
June 23, 2007: The first victim: two Bear Stearns hedge fund arms collapse due to their mortgage investments, as the liberal-inspired sub-prime cancer metastasizes through the system.
Aug. 9, 2007: President Bush calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Dec. 6, 2007: Pres. Bush warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs.
March 14, 2008: According to PBS's "Frontline": "After examining its books, JP Morgan Chase and the Fed realize the extent of Bear's toxic assets, including sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps, and its frightening interconnectedness with other banks."
At the Economic Club of New York, Pres. Bush calls on Congress to take action and "move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
April 14, May 3, May 19, May 31, June 6 (2008): Pres. Bush issues multiple pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
July 11, 2008: Sen. Chris Dodd says: "There's sort of a panic going on today, and that's not what ought to be. The facts don't warrant that reaction, in my opinion... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were never bottom-feeders in the residential mortgage market. People ought to feel comfortable about that."
July 13, 2008: Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson asks Congress to grant him authority to take over Fannie and Freddie, as reckoning day cometh.
Sept. 7, 2008: Paulson takes over Fannie and Freddie and offers them a whopping $200 billion - even though their government credit line is supposed to be no more than $25 billion.
Sept. 15, 2008: Lehman Brothers officially tanks after weeks of trouble, the government does not intervene, and panic ensues, triggering a Dow nosedive.
Sept. 16, 2008: When asked by the Hill whether Democrats bear some responsibility for the current crisis on Wall Street, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a one-word answer: "No."
I could go on and on about what happens next: the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), more stock market plunges, bailouts of AIG and Citibank, auto company bailouts, Obama's $2 trillion TARP II plan... all leading up to this comment, made by ultra-liberal media mogul George Soros on Feb. 21 of this year: "The financial crisis marks the end of a free-market model." In essence, Soros thinks capitalism is over.
But, he would be dead wrong. Capitalism will long outlive Soros and his liberal cronies.
The financial crisis marks the destructive stupidity of the Democrats' market-manipulating poison. How many times did Bush and others urge Congress to reform Fannie and Freddie? And how many times did Congress act on those requests?
If it weren't so despicable, it would be laughable.
Timeline courtesy of the March 2009 Limbaugh Letter
Now, being in the position I'm in, it would be extremely unprofessional for me to spout my true thoughts to those customers. I just have to smile and nod and try to remain as neutral as possible. However, this blog allows me to set the record straight without having to tell it to my customers' faces. Here's what really happened:
April 2001: The 4-month-old Bush Administration produces its 2002 budget, and declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE (Government-Sponsored Enterprise) could cause strong repercussions in financial markets."
Jan. 22, 2003: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years due to earnings manipulations.
June 11, 2003: Freddie Mac is the subject of federal securities and criminal investigations.
Sept. 11, 2003: "The Bush Administration," reports The New York Times, "recommend[s] the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." This recommendation was thwarted by Democrats in Congress, particularly Barney Frank...
Sept. 25, 2003: Mr. Frank, in response to the Bush Administration's effort: "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country... I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists." At this point, Fannie and Freddie control over half the mortgage market in the country.
Oct. 29, 2003: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.
June 16, 2004: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman repeats the Bush Administration call for "a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banking System."
Oct. 6, 2004: Franklin Raines, longtime Democrat hack and Fannie Mae CEO, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee that his company's "assets are so riskless that the capital for holding them should be under two percent." This enticed powerful banks to buy up trillions of dollars worth of Fannie Mae's sub-prime mortgages.
April 18, 2006: Freddie Mac pays a record $3.8 million Federal Election Commission fine.
May 23, 2006: Fannie Mae's regulator announces that Fannie Mae has for years overstated reported income and capital by $10.6 billion.
May 25, 2006: Sen. John McCain calls for GSE regulatory reform legislation, warning: "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole."
Nov. 7, 2006: Democrats win majorities in both houses of Congress. As they take the helm, the U.S. economy is growing at about 3 percent, unemployment is at 4.5 percent, inflation under 2 percent. And they are about to sabotage all of it.
June 23, 2007: The first victim: two Bear Stearns hedge fund arms collapse due to their mortgage investments, as the liberal-inspired sub-prime cancer metastasizes through the system.
Aug. 9, 2007: President Bush calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Dec. 6, 2007: Pres. Bush warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs.
March 14, 2008: According to PBS's "Frontline": "After examining its books, JP Morgan Chase and the Fed realize the extent of Bear's toxic assets, including sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps, and its frightening interconnectedness with other banks."
At the Economic Club of New York, Pres. Bush calls on Congress to take action and "move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
April 14, May 3, May 19, May 31, June 6 (2008): Pres. Bush issues multiple pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
July 11, 2008: Sen. Chris Dodd says: "There's sort of a panic going on today, and that's not what ought to be. The facts don't warrant that reaction, in my opinion... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were never bottom-feeders in the residential mortgage market. People ought to feel comfortable about that."
July 13, 2008: Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson asks Congress to grant him authority to take over Fannie and Freddie, as reckoning day cometh.
Sept. 7, 2008: Paulson takes over Fannie and Freddie and offers them a whopping $200 billion - even though their government credit line is supposed to be no more than $25 billion.
Sept. 15, 2008: Lehman Brothers officially tanks after weeks of trouble, the government does not intervene, and panic ensues, triggering a Dow nosedive.
Sept. 16, 2008: When asked by the Hill whether Democrats bear some responsibility for the current crisis on Wall Street, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a one-word answer: "No."
I could go on and on about what happens next: the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), more stock market plunges, bailouts of AIG and Citibank, auto company bailouts, Obama's $2 trillion TARP II plan... all leading up to this comment, made by ultra-liberal media mogul George Soros on Feb. 21 of this year: "The financial crisis marks the end of a free-market model." In essence, Soros thinks capitalism is over.
But, he would be dead wrong. Capitalism will long outlive Soros and his liberal cronies.
The financial crisis marks the destructive stupidity of the Democrats' market-manipulating poison. How many times did Bush and others urge Congress to reform Fannie and Freddie? And how many times did Congress act on those requests?
If it weren't so despicable, it would be laughable.
Timeline courtesy of the March 2009 Limbaugh Letter
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