Who is more culpable in the Freddie Mae and the Freddie mac financial collapse?
Is John McCain or is Barack Obama more culpable and therefore disqualified to be president?
Tagged with: barack obama • john mccain
Filed under: Freddie Mac Questions
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From the NY Times, September 11, 2003
"The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates…
Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
This mess started when Bill Clinton pressured Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give home loans to low-income and minority groups so that every American could own their own home. Then, when problems were seen, the Bush administration tried to deal with it. The Democrats, led by BARNEY FRANK, shot it down. So, to answer your question, I suppose Obama is guilty by association, and therefore more culpable.
It is the Democratic Congress that passed federal law requiring Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae make 50% of their mortgages to low income people with questionable ability to pay them back.