A Letter to Mr.Bush from a Mom on Mainstreet

Dear Mr.Bush,
I know you will never read this letter, and that you don’t read much period. I don’t care I am still going to write it, because I Vote and I pay Taxes. I am horrified at what you have done to this Country, OUR Country. I know you ran your two Drilling Businesses into the Ground, Arbusto and Harken, but you had your Daddy and his friends bail you out. So I guess “Bailing ” is always viewed by you as a Solution. See I am a mom, a single mom and a nurse. I know you don’t respect Single Moms, you have made that clear in your speeches and in your Laws. I work hard, but I don’t make much and I do take care of my son and I have never asked Anyone for a Dime. Most Single Moms I know work really hard…..

And now we learn that these Huge Corporations and Banking Entities on Wall Street have made mistakes and mismanaged their Monies and Investments. And you sent Mr “Hank” Paulson to the Hill today to explain to Hurry Up and Sign paperwork basically giving him total Control over 700 Billion Dollars. Personally I have trouble with trusting Men with Sandbox Names ( ie, Scooter). He came to the Hearing today, and I realized he has only been Director of the Treasury for 22 Months. He must miss Goldman Sachs, and His 38 Million /year CEO job, and his role Running Board Meetings. But he treated our Senators like they were disgruntled employees he could badger, he was arrogant and short sighted. I know it is hard to live on 300 Million Dollars and have any Comprehension of Someone like me that lives below poverty level.

I watched him field Questions about WHY there was no Oversight Proposed, No Auditing, and no Regulatory observances.And in his 3 pages of The Plan, there are 32 WORDS that make Mr.Paulson a Czar of this massive amount of money. I am confused that he worked at Goldman Sachs just 22 month’s ago, he did not see ANY Problems on the Horizon , especially after the Bearn Stearns Failure ? And the Other 11 Banks that already Failed ? And there were NO other Warnings or Economists voicing Concerns, even after watching Commercial Properties Fail En Masse and 9000 Families Lose their Homes a day to Foreclosure.

And then I watched you go to the UN while The Bailout Hearings were going on and the Stock Market again was like watching a cat weave between rockers on a summer porch. It is a Labile Market driven by Nerves and Rumors at this point. So you, Our Failed President go to the UN, and there you attempt to strong arm our Elected Reps by laying the Whole Financial Drama before the UN. How Unpresidential of you to go there and Air Our Very Dirty Broken Laundry. I am surprised you did not go there and just hold our your hand and maybe even shed a few crocodile tears as part of your performance.

See Here is the Thing, YOU and YOUR administration are asking People like me,moms, and dads and families that are struggling to just put food on the table and take care of our kids and our folks. People are struggling, 47 Million Plus without Health Insurance, 50 Million Underinsured ( and facing Huge Medical Bills), and 27 Million living in Poverty, and 15 Million are children.These People that are already hurting and stretched too thin and eating noodles and turning off Utilities and selling their belongings are supposed to Bailout the WallStreet CEO’s ? So they can get their Multi Million Dollar Severance Packages and escape to the Cayman Islands ?

Mr.Bush we have already Experienced Under Your Failed Leadership An Illegal War and all the damages that brings, the Devastation of Katrina, Rita and IKE, and now you have Devastated our Financial System….and we learned tonight you and your Administration 6 monthes ago that there were problems, and you did NOTHING. And now you want Money from us, all of us and Our Children. That means you KNEW all summer that there Massive Trouble on the Horizon and you did Nothing. Like when you got the August 6th Memo in 2001 warning of Trouble and you did Nothing. I wonder, is there a Financial Memo that warned of this Wall street Disaster, I bet there were MANY.

Tonight we learn that there are FBI Investigations regarding Potential Fraud at Management Levels at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And yet the paperwork that Mr.Paulson brought forth had 32 words that would have prevented ANY Investigations, Criminal or otherwise. So we are supposed to give money to coverup these Possible Crimes and Bailout the Possible Perpetrators ?

These 32 WORDS would have prevented ANY Investigation:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

Mr.Bush you know Nothing of Mainstreet and What is happening to Real People In this Country. You need to stop your Motorcade and look at the People and the Suffering that you have Inflicted on this country. This is not a Golf Game, there are NO Mulligans and No One to Bail Us, We The People Out.This is not a Golf Game, there are NO Mulligans and No One to Bail Us, We The People…. Out. 8000 Families a day lose their Homes, they Know the Truth there is Something Wrong here In America and No One is Bailing them out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 Articles to learn More:
(1) articale about the Bailout And WHY I think it is right. Asia Times

(2) 10 things you should know about the BIG Fleece and you will wish you didn’t know later….

(3) The Great American Kleptocracy tells the whole story.

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McCain campaign manager paid by Freddie Mac recently.

Recently as in up until LAST MONTH. From the NYT:

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

This bag of batshit has been lying his ass off about Obama and his campaign personnel being tied to Freddie or Frannie. The deal here is this:

Either McCain’s people are lying to him, or the old man just hasn’t got a fucking clue and doesn’t ask the right questions of his managers. Either way, it looks really bad for Johnny. And nothing makes me happier at this point.

McCain and his minions are back-peddaling furiously but the fact remains…Ricky has been collecting money from Freddie Mac to lobby on their behalf. As the NYT states: Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafort for the duration of the campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to share in its profits. (emphasis mine)

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No Golden Parachute for Frannie and Freddie exec’s.

This per The Legal Times:

The Federal Housing Finance Agency-the regulator that now controls Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-announced yesterday that it would block millions in exit pay to the companies’ departing chief executives. The “golden parachute” packages could have totaled as much as $24 million, and they have drawn fire from Congress and both presidential candidates ever since the government bailed out Fannie and Freddie two weekends ago. Daniel Mudd, Fannie’s ex-CEO, and Richard Syron, Freddie’s former CEO, learned yesterday that they would not receive the severance pay.

Mudd and Syron gotta be freaking out. Bet they pissed down both legs..

Tags: Daniel Mudd, Richard Syron, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

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Who benefits and who won’t in the Freddie and Frannie debacle

I don’t know how full of bat guano the WSJ is, but their take on the take-over(pun intended) is this:

Homeowners,Short-sellers and  Republicans all win. The losers are Lobbyists, Stockholders, Congress, investors and the two idiots that ran Fannie and Freddie. From the writeup by Heidi Moore:

Stockholders: Common and preferred shares will remain listed but those juicy dividends are gone. Still, it isn’t the total wipeout many expected. Many banks and financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan Chase, had poured money into Fannie’s and Freddie’s preferred shares. The threat of the banks’ holdings becoming worthless raised the threat of a broad banking crisis. But Treasury will buy some of the preferred shares, and banishing the dividends will save Fannie and Freddie $2 billion a year.

Lobbyists: The mortgage giants wove a mantle of invincibility with their $170 million lobbying bills in the past decade. They spent $3.5 million on lobbying just in this year’s first quarter, spreading their largesse among 42 outside lobbying firms. Treasury has turned off the Fannie-Freddie lobbying spigot. Sen. Barack Obama pointedly said in a statement about Fannie and Freddie today, “any action we take must be focused not on the whims of lobbyists and special interests worried about their bonuses and hourly fees.”

Congress comes out of this looking like shit for various reasons. A column this weekend states that if this happened in the real world at a normal corporation all the congress critters would be packing up their desks and looking for work.

But it remains to be seen if the Homeowners will get any relief and if the investors and stockholders really take it in the shorts.

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Bankrupting America: Bailing out Freddie and Fannie

‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together hold or back half of the nation’s mortgage debt, and have played an increasingly important role in the real estate market since the credit crisis started in August 2007. A government bailout could cost taxpayers around $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and two other regulators are working on a plan to put the troubled mortgage finance companies into a conservatorship, and remove Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

News of the likely government takeover Friday followed a report by the Mortgage Bankers Association that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June. That confirmed what investors saw in Fannie and Freddie’s recent financial results: trouble in the mortgage market has shifted to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with little or no proof of their income and assets. In July, Congress passed a plan to provide unlimited government loans to Fannie and Freddie and to purchase stock in the companies if needed. Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.’ $25 Billion is a minimum

I could have sworn I posted a couple weeks ago that the Debt ceiling was increased again to 10.5 Trillion or there about but I will use the reported $9.6 trillion figure that is in itself over whelming to our future as Bush has bankrupt America’s future and the future of our children in his “success” McPalin wants to continue in this new Fascist America! However sadly $9.6 trillion is a bad joke compared to the debilitating truth that in fact America is $53 Trillion in Debt!

‘In the terrible reality The country is in a $53-trillion financial hole, but few of the nation’s leaders — including the two leading presidential candidates — are willing to grapple with it. So said former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, who plays a key role in a new documentary film about the nation’s debt problems. Besides an $11-trillion debt, the country is also saddled with $34 trillion in unfunded Medicare promises, $7 trillion in unfunded Social Security promises and $1 trillion in miscellaneous debts, Walker said at an economic summit at Bryant University in Smithfield.

The total — $53 trillion — is the equivalent of $175,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in the country, Walker said. Federal budget controls expired several years ago and now, “Washington is out of touch and out of control,” he said. But even if the annual federal budget is balanced, the overall debt will continue to grow — automatically — unless voters hold elected leaders accountable and demand solutions, said Walker, former head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress. “America is at a crossroads,” he said. “We have much to be proud of and much to be thankful for, but we have strayed” from the nation’s founding core values.

Voters should demand that candidates for elective office acknowledge the $53-trillion problem, change the nation’s tax policy and address entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, he said. He added that the nation must no longer write a “blank check” when it comes to health-care costs. “If we don’t get health-care costs under control, we will bankrupt this country,” he said. Walker also told about 230 business leaders, academics and others at the summit that “too many Americans are following the bad example of the federal government — spending more than they make.” It gets worse!

‘That brings back to the movie and Documentary I. O. U. S. A.! When leaving the theater after seeing I.O.U.S.A. — the documentary billed as doing for the national deficit what An Inconvenient Truth did for global warming — you’ll likely be confronted with one of two impulses: You’ll want to cut up your credit cards on the spot, lecture your kids on the meaning of frugality and call your representative and senators for a heart-to-heart about federal spending — or you’ll feel like throwing in the towel and learning how to say, “Do you want fries with that?” in Chinese.

I.O.U.S.A. delivers the goods with plenty of jaw-dropping figures. In 2007, China had the largest trade surplus of any country in the world, at $262 billion, while the U.S. had the greatest trade deficit of all nations, at $847 billion. At the end of World War II, nearly all federal debt lay in the hands of Americans, but by 2007 foreigners owned 45% of our obligations. As for what’s occurring within our own borders, if current trends continue, the total federal debt will skyrocket to 250% of gross domestic product around 2040. The ratio of the nation’s outstanding debt to GDP is 63% now.

Creadon nabbed some big names to weigh in on the cause. Former Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker give interviews, and former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill offers a disheartening account of his dismissal from office after butting heads with the Bush administration. He recounts Vice President Dick Cheney telling him, “We don’t have to worry about deficits.” Please read between the lines and maybe watch the terrible truth!

You have to wonder what Cheney’s terrible plan is when he can say we do not have to worry about Deficits? Does the idiot think we can file Chapter 11? Is it because of the plan for a North American Union? Attacking China winning and eliminating our Debt? What the hell is going on in Washington’s little minds? My own thought is they purposely bankrupt our America because their new Fascist America is almost ready and a new Monetary system will be instituted. I can only anticipate with trepidation this facade of an election in this facade of a Democracy and beyond that January 20th when Bush and Cheney’s rule is “supposed to be over”

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Fannie and Freddie going under federal control

The government has formulated a plan to put troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, dismiss their top executives and prop them up financially, federal officials told the two companies yesterday, according to three sources familiar with the conversations.

 

Under the plan, which could prompt one of the most sweeping government interventions in the workings of financial markets in U.S. history, federal officials would place the firms under a conservatorship, a legal status giving the government the option and time to restructure and revive the companies, the sources said. The value of the companies’ common stock would be diluted but not wiped out; while the holdings of other securities, including company debt and preferred shares might be protected by the government.-MSNBC

There goes the hard working American’s tax monies…ain’t it fucking grand?

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Senate passes housing bill on a Saturday

From The Hill:

Senators found a rare chance for consensus Saturday on a broad housing bill aimed to benefit borrowers, mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and communities hurt by the housing crisis.

The 72-13 final vote sends the bill to President Bush, who this week dropped a longstanding veto threat against the measure over $4 billion on community block grants. The legislation already passed the House on a 272-152 vote on Wednesday. All 13 ‘no’ votes were Republicans.

All no votes were Rethuglican..figures..they are the folks that wanted to take all the controls off banks and financial institutions..yet when the shit hits the proverbial fan..they don’t want to fix their fuckup. And, to add to this..the Rethugs are blocking any other bills until the Democrats lift the drilling ban. From The Hill again:

The GOP wants a more open amendment process that could allow a vote on lifting a congressional moratorium on offshore oil drilling.

“We want to address the issue of gas prices now,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “The important thing to do is stay on the subject.”

Drilling will NOT do a fucking thing for the price of gas NOW you fucktard. Jesus Christ on a cracker..they still keep those talking points going long after they have been shown to be utter bullshit.

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Paulson announces Treasury will shore up Frannie and Freddie

After saying they wouldn’t be taking this step late last week, Paulson announced today, on a Sunday no less, that the Treasury will be taking steps to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I knew it. From the MSNBC writeup:

Secretary Henry Paulson said the government is planning to expand its current line of credit to the two companies should they need to tap it and Treasury could buy equity captial in the companies - if needed. The moves will require congressional approval.

The Federal Reserve saids in a separate statement that it will lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if they need additional funds.

The plans also seek a “consultative role” for the Federal Reserve in any new regulatory framework eventually decided by Congress for Fannie and Freddie. The Fed’s role would be to weigh in on setting capital requirements for the companies.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac either hold or back $5.3 trillion of mortgage debt. That’s about half the outstanding mortgages in the United States.

But helping the home owners isn’t an option. Fuckers…

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Iraq War Effects Missing from Coverage of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Troubles

Libhomo blogs at Godless Liberal Homo. His article today is spot-on in my humble estimation. ~Dusty

This New York Times article ( “U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants” - 7/10/08) is typical of how the corporate media omit underlying causes in reporting on current economic difficulties.

You can see how the Iraqtastrophe is impacting events, but you have to think very carefully while you read. Here’s one example, a sentence starting the second paragraph:

The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit hard by the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Let’s review three of the ways that the war on Iraq has contributed to this foreclosure crisis.

- The resulting increase in oil prices has pushed some people who were near default on their mortgages over the edge.

- The rising oil prices and increased budget deficits have slowed the overall US economy down. Newly unemployed people are much more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure.

- Higher oil prices have increased trade deficits. Those deficits, along with growing budget deficits, have resulted in a falling dollar. A weak dollar is unattractive to foreign investors, including risk tolerant ones that otherwise might be interested in buying heavily discounted US mortgage paper.

Now, let’s review a paragraph later in the article (bolding mine).

The companies are by far the biggest providers of financing for domestic home loans. If they are unable to borrow, they will not be able to buy mortgages from commercial lenders. In turn, that would make it more expensive and difficult, if not impossible, for home buyers to obtain credit, freezing the United States housing market. Even healthy banks are reluctant to tie up scarce capital by offering mortgages to low-risk home buyers without Fannie and Freddie taking the loans off their books.

One of the reasons capital is so scare is that the Bush regime is borrowing so much money to pay for their colonial occupation of Iraq. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been borrowed to feed this fiscally voracious war, money which is unavailable for home and commercial credit.

Obviously, Iraq isn’t the only cause of our economic difficulties. Financial market deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, and other policies which shift wealth from the middle class and the poor to the super rich all are important as well. Yet, how can we have an informed political debate if so much of what is ailing us is kept off of the metaphorical table?

Some opponents of the war say that the vast majority of Americans are not sacrificing anything to the war in Iraq. It certainly is true that military members and their families make much larger sacrifices than everyone else. However, all of us are sacrificing for this unpopular war. We are just being lied to about it.

Iraq is a proverbial “elephant in the living room” of American economic discussion. Our nation better start talking about it.

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