So here is my opinion on what I believe is the absolute truth about this ‘stimulus handout’ and financial crisis. I am an average American who is an optimist and tries to find the best in everything. This is the way I see it. I have never suffered more under the Republicans. The REPUBLICANS controlled all 3 branches of government during most of Bush’s 2 terms in office. They had the White House, House of Representatives from 1994-2006, the US Senate from 2001-2006, controlled the Supreme Court, and had Majorities in the US Governorships. I have watched they(THE REPUBLICANS) try and blame this crisis on the Democrats. Bush ruined his party. He increased the federal government to record size. He came into office with a surplus, and left office with a 2 trillion dollar trade deficit, and a 7 trillion dollar national debt. It didn’t matter who the GOP nominated, after what he did anyone could have beat the GOP in 2008. So we got Obama and a ‘mandate’ for change. As a Libertarian, I am not a fan of Socialism and big government. 600,000 jobs lost in the US in January alone…the worst since 1974.(source US Dept of Labor). Where I live on the West coast, there are soup lines and 65,000 people have lost their jobs in 2009 in a city of 700,000 people. We are at 10% unemployment here! The credit crunch was caused by greedy ‘MADOFF’ type mortgage brokers and banks who loaned people money on homes they the buyer and lender could not afford! The homes here are overpriced by 150,000 dollars! People can’t sell them. Retailers are closing in record numbers. What really amazes me are the Republicans. I blame them 100 percent. It happened on their watch. They dare to lecture a new President on Fiscal Responsibility. What a laugh! They created the very mess we are in! They only care about their little kingdoms and if they get the glory or not instead of Obama. I have had it up to here with the Republicans. They are trying to crucify Obama for trying to do whats right for THE PEOPLE! Where is the accountability in all this corporate crime? Special interests, lobbyists and criminals like Madoff run this country. Its going to take a change of power in Congress to get things done and a 3rd party shift. TERM LIMITS is a good start. Thanks a lot George W. Bush. I will NEVER vote for another Republican in my lifetime. I will continue to vote 3rd party. Who do you think is to blame for this current economic meltdown that has reached global proportions? Are you angry about this unaccountability in Washington? The stuff they are doing and will continue to do, you and I would be rotting in a prison cell for. I say F the GOP and the Democrats and start looking at 3rd party people. If they are not careful, the public outrage will be so severe as they are truly fed up to their eyeballs with BS and government non performance that JESSE VENTURA just might be walking Obama out of office in 2012! Laugh now but in 3 years if things continue to nosedive, Americans just might put a former Minnessotta Governor in the White House. Now that would be REAL CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN…someone who tells the truth. WOW.

1997
Fannie Mae is a GSE (Govt. Sponsored Entity) regulated by Congress.
Fannie Mae buys mortgages from other companies.
It is backed by the taxpayers for all losses, but keeps all profits.
President Clinton loosens Home Loan Requirements.

1998
Banks begin making thousands of bad loans,0 down, no documentation, for 120%!(1998 –2008).
Executives at Fannie receive huge bonuses if loan targets are met.
Franklin Rainesand Jamie Garelickfrom the Clinton Administration are appointed to run Fannie Mae.

2003
President Bush proposes a new oversight committee to clean up Fannie Mae, but Democrats derail the effort.
Rep.Melvyn Watt,(D-NC) Committee on Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit.stated, “I don’t see much other than weakening the bargaining power poorer families to get affordable housing.”

1999 -2004
Raines earns $ 100 millionin bonuses.
Garelick earns $ 75 millionin bonuses.
In 2004, Enroncollapses, congress investigates, Executives Skilling & Lay go to jail, for fraudulent bookkeeping.
Congress responds with the Sorbanes-Oxley Act, more heavy regulation of corporations.

2004
An OMB investigation finds massive fraudulent bookkeeping at Fannie Mae.
False numbers triggered executive bonuses every year.
Congress holds nohearings, noone goes to jail, or is punished.
WHY NOT?

1999 -2005
Fannie Mae gives millions to Democratic causes, examples:Jesse Jackson & ACORN.
Fannie Mae pays millionsto 354 congressmen and senators, from both parties.
Who got the most money?

Top 4 Recipients
#1Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D-CT)Chairman of the Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee#2Sen. Barack Obama, (D-IL) Federal Financial Management Committee
Top 4 Recipients#3Sen. Chuck Schumer,(D-NY)Chairman of the Finance Committee
#4Rep. Barney Frank,(D-MA)
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committe

2005
Franklin Raines & top execs are forced to resign from Fannie Mae.
They do not go to jail.
There is no media “perp. walk.”
They keeps all of their bonuses
They finally pay $ 31.4 million in civil fines.

2005
The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act is sponsored by:#325Sen. John McCain,(R-AZ)Armed Services, & Commerce, Science, & Transportation
“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.”

2005
Noneof the top 4 recipients support the legislation.
The reform act is blocked by Democrats, never even making it out of committee.
Noneof the politicians return any of the money, tainted by fraud.

2008
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac go bankrupt and the govt. takes them over completely.
Lehman Brothers, goes bankrupt from investing in bad mortgages.
AIG get $ 85 million in loan guarantees, after insuring bad loans & projects.
Taxpayers will ultimately pay BILLIONS.

2008
Franklin Raines is now an advisor to the Obama Campaignwhich wants the govt. to take over more of the economy.
Did government involvement in the mortgage market work out?
How will even MOREgovernment involvement make it better? Do you want to be Sweden?
McCain favors revising regulations & loan standards, selling off Fannie & Freddie.

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

bush tried to regulate the sub prime mortgages.in 2001,then again in 2003.then mccain tried to.all were blocked by the democrats
TY “warren peace”

what no Obama fans ????
the issue is that everyone and anyone could get a loan.No money down ect
cause by the Clinton ara
Y/A Snitches Not Welcomed
I am to old but I have one daughter and a son in law in the Army
and yes they know what they are fighting for.
Sorry you missed that class

So I did some research on it all:

The Glass-Steagall Act was created in the 1930’s to prevent the Great Depression from ever happening again by separating regular banks (retail banks) from investment institutions by a “firewall” and illegalized credit-swaps which had created the massive losses by investment firms caught in the Crash (because they were like unregulated gambling side-bet “insurance claims” which had no guarantees of money to back them up). So the Glass-Steagall Act kept Wallstreet risks from harming and affecting regular banks (retail banks), and kept Wallstreet protected from the massive losses of gambling with credit-swaps.

What Happened?

Bills to repeal the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act were introduced to the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The bills were >opposed by the majority of Democrats<, but after some re-writing were passed as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act signed by Bill Clinton. This act tore down Glass-Steagall’s firewall of protection between investment firms and regular banks, allowing their systems to reintegrate.

Who’s To Blame?

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: The bill that gutted the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act’s separation of banks vs. investment firms.

Courtesy of Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Jim Leach (R-Iowa), and Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia).

Who Then Added Insult To Injury?

Several of the exact same people of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (which gutted Glass-Steagall’s banking firewall) then initiated the “Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000” and set up a financial house of cards. This act allowed credit-swaps (outlawed by Glass-Steagall) to come back into play. So people could once again “buy cheap insurance bets” that “covered” losses on stocks. But, the credit-swaps weren’t governed by insurance laws which guarantee that the money paid out actually exists and is safely tucked away. So all the firms tangled up with them suddenly got caught either paying out of pocket to investors or losing the money they bought them with. To make it all even more ugly a lot of loans connected to them were also involved.

Who’s To Blame… Again?

H.R. 4541: Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000
Sponsor: Rep. Thomas Ewing (Rep.). Cosponsors, Rep. Bill Barrett (Rep.), Saxby Chambliss (Rep.), Gilbert Gutknecht (Rep.).

(Only 4 people said “No”: Ron Paul (Rep.), Peter DeFazio (Dem.), Gene Taylor (Dem.), and Nick Smith, Nick (Rep.)

This Bill then went to the Senate as Bill S.2697…

S.2697
Title: “A bill to reauthorize and amend the Commodity Exchange Act to promote legal certainty, enhance competition, and reduce systemic risk in markets for futures and over-the-counter derivatives, and for other purposes”...

Sponsor: Sen Lugar, Richard G. (R-IN). Cosponsors: Sen Fitzgerald, Peter (R-IL), and Sen Gramm, Phil (R-TX)

And then of course it was passed with Bush’s stamp of approval.

Meanwhile people’s mortgages were being re-packaged into “mortgage securities” as stocks for investors to buy. Lot’s of the investors made “side bets” by buying credit-swaps as insurance in case the mortgage securities went sour from home owner foreclosures…

The market went sour, the mortgage securities tanked, the credit-swap “insurance” had to be paid, and We the People are now paying for all the losses…

A Little Side Note:

Phil Gramm is vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank, >a financial services company based in Switzerland<. Gramm’s wife, Wendy Lee Gramm, was on the board of directors of Enron when it famously collapsed. Most recently he was co-chair of John McCain’s presidential campaign and his most senior economic adviser until saying we were a nation of “whiners”…

I say it was a handful of Republicans, but the Democrats just jumped on board and played along.

What do you say?

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h106-4541

http://en.wikipedia.org

What ACORN didn’t tell you: Hanks’ house was sold in June 2008 for $ 192,000. She bought the two-story home in the summer of 2001 for $ 87,000. At some point during the next five years, she refinanced the original home loan for $ 270,000. Where did all that money go? (Hint: Think house-sized ATM.)” See http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/25/no-tears-for-these-foreclosure-victims/

1) WSJ reports that bank executives hold a “secret meeting” with members of the Fed and SEC which allowed them to be over-leveraged, in some cases up to 40-1. This new rule says that for every $ 1 a bank owns, they are allowed to borrow, lend, or spend $ 40.

2) We know that mortgage fraud (including appraisal fraud) started in 2000 and peaked in 2004-2005. Appraisal fraud is when an appraiser claims that a home is worth more than it actually is. Therefore, this has caused home prices to inflate artificially. This then has a secondary effect of making your neighbors’ homes more expensive. It is the exact reverse effect of what a foreclosed home can do to a sub-division. Both create domino effects on property value.

3) Bush appoints Chris Cox to chair the SEC. Let’s examine all the failures on the part of the SEC. a) Allowing banks to be over-leveraged b) Allowing banks to transact business with fraudelent loans. c) A $ 50bn ponzi scheme headed by Bernie Madoff

4) Didn’t realize that banks were using over-leveraged cash based off fradulent loans to drive up the price of oil. Let me say this once and for all: THE ONLY REASON WE SAW $ 138 OIL AND $ 5 GALLON GAS WAS BECAUSE BANKS WERE SITTING ON TOO MUCH CASH. Remember that it was Goldman Sachs who predicted $ 200 oil. And the White House failed to realize the national security and political implications of large fluxuations in the price of oil.

5) I won’t even go into the implications of the Credit Default Swap Counter-party Risk ponzi scheme.

Let’s face it. Since Bush took office, it was party time for banks. They built a house of cards for themselves, and look at where the banks are now. Look at where the economy is now.

On a side note, you may be interested in knowing MBNA was one of Bush’s largest campaign contributors, and MBNA authored the Bankruptcy Bill which Bush signed into law. This bill makes it impossible for folks to declare bankruptcy and ensure the only way to relinquish your debt is through death. And Bush did this while ignoring the wider implications it would have on the economy. Once again, he acts to satisfy only a select few at the expense of the entire nation.

Whether or not you believe me, you must agree with this because it started and escalated on his watch: Either Bush was stupid, or he was selfish.
Oh I forgot. He “borrowed” nearly all the money we have left in the Social Security Trust Fund to fund an unncessary war in Iraq and to fund poorly structured tax cuts. Basically, Bush found a way to give rich people and corporations a tax break without making people mad—-he just decided to give everyone a tax cut. So he did it, but at what cost?

Look at where we are now. Look at where you are now. Look at where you might be in 2 years. All of this could have been avoided. It didn’t have to happen this way.
Wall St. people are greedy. We all know this. It is the responsibility of the government, and in particular the Securities and Exchange Commission, to make sure these greedy people do not break the law.

If the SEC would have done their job, these greedy people would be held in check. But I am telling you that the SEC looked the other way, and allowed Wall St. to run wild.