DroppinScience
09-13-2008, 08:41 PM
I'm gonna be bi-partisan here and blast BOTH Obama and McCain for this, as Bill Moyers discusses the NY Times' Jackie Calmes' article giving a back story to the government bailout of mortgage banks Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
You can fast-forward to 21:30 in the video for the visuals to accompany these words.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/watch2.html
Speaking of good journalism, check out the front page story in the NEW YORK TIMES by Jackie Calmes. We'll post it on our website at pbs.org. Calmes joined the TIMES after 18 years at the WALL STREET JOURNAL covering politics, economics and public policy.
In the TIMES this week, she tells an important back story to the government's takeover of the mortgage banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is a move that could drive up the national debt by as much as $200 billion. To come up with the cash, the Bush Administration is reaching deep into your and your kids' pockets. With the help of the Center for Responsive Politics, Jackie Calmes came up with facts to help us try to understand how, over so many years, such wild mismanagement of both corporations was allowed to happen. Why weren't the watchdogs barking? Where were the people's representatives? The answer? Follow the money.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain say the Fannie and Freddie mess is the result of the cozy ties between lobbyists and politicians, the very thing they will "change" if elected. But guess what? Neither one of them has ever had, quote, "A record of directly challenging the companies."
To the contrary, Obama is second among members of Congress in donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's employees and political action committees, even though he's only been in the Senate since 2005. The former chairman of Fannie Mae originally led Obama's vice presidential search committee but had to step down in a controversy over favorable loans he received, while at Fannie, from a company doing business with Fannie.
Among Obama's contributors are three directors and one senior vice president of the two companies. Furthermore, Obama's fellow Democrats in Congress have long been enablers of both corporations.
And what about John McCain? His entire campaign team stepped right out of a predator's ball. His confidante and top adviser lobbied several years for Freddie Mac. His deputy fundraiser lobbied Fannie Mae, and his campaign manager lobbied for both of them, leading a coalition of beltway insiders whose goal was to "stave off regulations" that might have short circuited this nightmare.
One wealthy member of Freddie Mac's board has contributed more than $70,000 to McCain and Republican Party members working for McCain's election.
Even the guy who vetted John McCain's vice presidential options is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae.
This week, both Obama and McCain are speaking up for taxpayers, like you and me, who have to foot the bill. But locking the beltway barn door after the horse is gone leaves the stable smelling like you know what.
Now, Senator Obama denounces "golden parachutes" for the deposed execs of the two institutions. Now, John McCain blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's troubles on "cronyism" and "special interest lobbyists." Beg pardon? Does McCain know that if he really intends to throw the bums out he'll have to start with his own inner circle. As we've heard, you can rewrite the myth but you can't rewrite the facts.
You can fast-forward to 21:30 in the video for the visuals to accompany these words.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/watch2.html
Speaking of good journalism, check out the front page story in the NEW YORK TIMES by Jackie Calmes. We'll post it on our website at pbs.org. Calmes joined the TIMES after 18 years at the WALL STREET JOURNAL covering politics, economics and public policy.
In the TIMES this week, she tells an important back story to the government's takeover of the mortgage banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is a move that could drive up the national debt by as much as $200 billion. To come up with the cash, the Bush Administration is reaching deep into your and your kids' pockets. With the help of the Center for Responsive Politics, Jackie Calmes came up with facts to help us try to understand how, over so many years, such wild mismanagement of both corporations was allowed to happen. Why weren't the watchdogs barking? Where were the people's representatives? The answer? Follow the money.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain say the Fannie and Freddie mess is the result of the cozy ties between lobbyists and politicians, the very thing they will "change" if elected. But guess what? Neither one of them has ever had, quote, "A record of directly challenging the companies."
To the contrary, Obama is second among members of Congress in donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's employees and political action committees, even though he's only been in the Senate since 2005. The former chairman of Fannie Mae originally led Obama's vice presidential search committee but had to step down in a controversy over favorable loans he received, while at Fannie, from a company doing business with Fannie.
Among Obama's contributors are three directors and one senior vice president of the two companies. Furthermore, Obama's fellow Democrats in Congress have long been enablers of both corporations.
And what about John McCain? His entire campaign team stepped right out of a predator's ball. His confidante and top adviser lobbied several years for Freddie Mac. His deputy fundraiser lobbied Fannie Mae, and his campaign manager lobbied for both of them, leading a coalition of beltway insiders whose goal was to "stave off regulations" that might have short circuited this nightmare.
One wealthy member of Freddie Mac's board has contributed more than $70,000 to McCain and Republican Party members working for McCain's election.
Even the guy who vetted John McCain's vice presidential options is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae.
This week, both Obama and McCain are speaking up for taxpayers, like you and me, who have to foot the bill. But locking the beltway barn door after the horse is gone leaves the stable smelling like you know what.
Now, Senator Obama denounces "golden parachutes" for the deposed execs of the two institutions. Now, John McCain blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's troubles on "cronyism" and "special interest lobbyists." Beg pardon? Does McCain know that if he really intends to throw the bums out he'll have to start with his own inner circle. As we've heard, you can rewrite the myth but you can't rewrite the facts.