With the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage business both parties are starting to point fingers at each other blaming the other for the recent business failures.
Just like the Savings and Loan failures in the 80's the republicans are the most to blame but they couldn't have done it with out the help of dems support. Remember the Keating 5?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
" Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI)" Four Dems and a Republican, working across party lines to help protect one of the biggest white collar crooks of all time. Now as the ash settles on wall street who will get the credit for the failures?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis

What is also intersting is that Alan Greenspan's name comes up in both failures.

My vote for Greenie.

Who created this mess?

John McCain and his beer buddies. That's who.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm




http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/bank-n01.shtml



Go ahead, piss, moan & cry some more, Dittoheads.

Here we go trying to lay it at McCains feet again. The name Johnson mean anythignt o you Irie. Look him up. This is a long and distinguished list of people responsible and they are weaved through both campaigns. Dont attempt to paint this as a Rep over Dem thing because it isnt. Maybe a little the other way actually but still to close to call. You Messiah obama ranks third in the senate for his dollars collected from Freddy and Fanny as well. Follow the money because that is where they get their votes to get these sweet deals through. McCain ranks 29th. Not to say Gramm isnt a piece of shiat but get real.

I don't like Gramm. Chuck Schumer is also a turd. Both parties have them.

The senators who actually took the most lobby money from Fannie May/Freddie Mac were as follows.

1. Chris Dodd
2. Barak Obama
3. John Kerry

This was all in large part started by the repeal of the The Glass Steagall Act by Bill Clinton (no nut kick yet Todd) and the instution of the Grahm Leach Bailey Act. The Glass Steagall act was put into place in 1933 in response to the commercial banking crisis of the Great depression.

Mccain Tried to stop this but the Democrats Killed it in congress. Hmm Citibank gave the Dems and canidates nearly 200 million dollars. Huh, Obama voted against it.

McCain - Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 (Democrats blocked reform)

1/26/2005 | Congressional Research Service

Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005

Bill Summary

1/26/2005--Introduced. Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to establish: (1) in lieu of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an independent Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Agency which shall have authority over the Federal Home Loan Bank Finance Corporation, the Federal Home Loan Banks, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac); and (2) the Federal Housing Enterprise Board. Sets forth operating, administrative, and regulatory provisions of the Agency, including provisions respecting: (1) assessment authority; (2) authority to limit nonmission-related assets; (3) minimum and critical capital levels; (4) risk-based capital test; (5) capital classifications and undercapitalized enterprises; (6) enforcement actions and penalties; (7) golden parachutes; and (8) reporting. Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to establish the Federal Home Loan Bank Finance Corporation. Transfers the functions of the Office of Finance of the Federal Home Loan Banks to such Corporation. Excludes the Federal Home Loan Banks from certain securities reporting requirements. Abolishes the Federal Housing Finance Board.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

"The bills comprising the act were introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (R-TX) and in the House of Representatives by James Leach (R-IA). The bills were passed by a 54-44 vote along party lines with Republican support in the Senate[1] and by a 343-86 vote with in the House of Representatives[2]. Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999. [3]

Would not have mattered if Clinton signed the bill or not with a 90% majority in the Senate.

The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of Glass-Steagall since at least the 1980s. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report which explored the case for preserving Glass-Steagall and the case against preserving the act.[4]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act

Senator Phil Gramm led the Senate Banking Committee which sponsored the Act; he later joined UBS Warburg, at the time the investment banking arm of the largest Swiss bank.


Who is Phil Gram associated with now? Humm.... is it CLINTON? Nope guess again. Obama? No wrong. One more guess. MCCAIN? Right.

What about placing the blame for taking a loan you can't repay on the shoulders of the individual borrower...


I could have easily signed up for one of those "stated income" loans with my good credit score, there were (are) loans available to me that I would only be able to pay back if the collateral increases in value, sure it's a no brainer to make free money on the rising market...

I still live in my crappy little place (good location) which I own free and clear. I think they call it conservative.

One thing I forgot to add on the house vote that was 90-8-1. The Gramm bill was slipped into a must pass spending bill at the last minute and most didn't even bother to look at it.

Banking regulations were relaxed to the point that those type of loans could be made. Prior to the bill you couldn't get a home loan without proof of income and your ability to repay. After the bill the "drug dealer loans" became available.

FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005 — (Senate - May 25, 2006)

[Page: S5217] GPO's PDF

---Mr. McCAIN: "Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. 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.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation. 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. I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation. This warning was given just over two years ago. What happened to the legislation? It lingered in the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably - on July 28th, 2005. Then… it died!"

On January 26, 2005, Senator McCain cosponsored legislation that, had it been passed, might have averted the current debacle of mortgage loans. It might have saved the taxpayer billions and the fall of venerable financial institutions would not have happened. Senators Elizabeth Dole, John McCain and John Sununu had cosponsored it with Charles Hagel as the sponsor, all Republicans.

Lest anyone think that the Republicans are solely responsible for killing this resolution let us remember that the committee was not made up by far of only Republicans. One of the most prominent members of the Committee (and its current Chairman) was Senator Dodd, D- Connecticut. As we learned over the last couple of weeks, Senators Dodd and Obama turned out to be the biggest recipients of Fannie’s and Freddie’s gifts. It is obvious to anyone not ruled by emotions, it is obvious to anyone using logic and intellect, anyone capable of reading, understanding and sifting through all the boring details, that the economic policies revealed so far by the good Senator from Illinois are a harbinger of unmitigated disaster, if implemented.

Senator McCain with several of his colleagues, foresaw the financial crisis which, over the last two weeks, has sent shockwaves throughout the financial markets around the world. Senator Obama, though he only served the Senate for a mere total of 143 days and voted “present” 139 times, greatly benefited from that which Senator McCain has warned us against. It is obvious that Senator Obama’s run for the Presidency, instead of far more experienced non-corrupt Democrats, is nothing less than an insult, an affront to the intelligence of the average American voter. In fact, the underhanded tactics, the disregard for any decorum, the venom, the hatred displayed by the good Senator’s campaign and especially by his devoted followers amounts to an OBAMA(inti)-FADA on our country as a whole.

Maybe Senator McCain knows more about the economy than he admits.

Bill Clinton.

Mf

"Maybe Senator McCain knows more about the economy than he admits."

I dobut it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1X3efvVTLA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-lYKrQPgZM&feature=related

Ne was for deregulation before he was against it.

That's my boy...

Fish on...

Todd

I think we need to blame ourselves also...I know quite a few people that purchased more home than they could afford...

Which should have disqualified them for the loan amounts & rates they received in the first place.

If you could fog a mirror and had decent credit you could qualify for anything you wanted. I always warned borrowers that I could qualify them for more than they could afford and that it wasn't me that would have to make the payments. Now these were people with good credit. Most people don't get good credit on accident. They make rational decisions and pay their bills. The exception here is the person who always paid their bills but did a 80/20 loan and then got laid off or had medical issues etc. I thought (and still do) that the nothing down loan was stupid no matter who was taking it. It costs about 10% to sell a house so you are 10% in the hole from day 1.

I doubt most mortgage guys were that honest with their borrowers. I had it pretty easy though as I didn't do subprime loans. That was a choice I made. I didn't choose not to do them because I thought it was going to result in forclosures though. I didn't do them because they took about 4 times as long to put together and they often fell apart during the transaction. Sticking with A paper was easier.

So I mentioned this earlier but..... Here we are with ANOTHER tax payer bailout just like the Savings and Loan disaster that was pulled on us when Regan was in office. The difference is now we are talking nearly $1 Trillion. The S & L disaster was a mear $161 Billion. G.W. will add 10% to the national debt in his last few months in office. This should qualify him to be the head of some large multi-national bank or something. In the mean time the CEO's and the board of directors will still walk away with their $ Billions in bonuses. I wonder how much they will donate to the GOP?
It is GOLDEN PARACHUTE DAY for Wall Street. Only in America can you be rewarded for failure.

As far as the low interest loans for the auto makers. This was done for Chrysler also.

Rains was/ is a crook and shoud have gone to jail. He didn't start out that way but since his compensation was tied to preformance he used a little accounting magic to make the numbers look good. Not much different then Enron and the bunch of crooks there.
"The "resources" referred to by House include more than $174 million spent on lobbying over the past 10 years. That put Fannie and Freddie in the Top 20 for lobbying dollars for the decade, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

"That meant campaign money for many Democrats, and even more Republicans, in the House and Senate. The campaign cash cracked the $10-million mark a while ago."

"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94394609

I will be really suprised if we don't see the same thing happen as we did after the S&L bailout. The same players came back in and bought up the defaulted properties for pennies on the dollar and resold them for huge profits. One of them was named Bush.

People that signed on the bottom line of their mortgage docs are responsible.