Obama - Has No Clue On Fannie or Freddie

While many remember “the good old days” under Bill Clinton they fail to understand it was under his watch and his leadership that started us down the road we set today. What is even more troubling is Obama offering the voters much of the same as Clinton did. Obama shows a lack of leadership by not even knowing the following details with regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

1- Bill Clinton proposed the concept of getting “lower income” earners into home ownership. He championed, from the oval office, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase and guarantee “subprime” loans. It required Fannie and Freddie to accept these loans as part of their business operation.

2- This caused the start of a “housing boom” that carried into the early 2000’s. House values exploded, by percentage of value that had never been seen in US history.

3- These “subprime” mortgage loans where bundled and sold as securities to nearly ever major banking institution around the world. That is why the damage appears to be so wide spread.

4- In 2004 congress was warned that there were severe accounting problems within Fannie. This was presented to congress by Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight a office under the control of President Bush

5- In September of 2004 the top two executives at Fannie Mae resigned.

6- In February 2005 Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight seeks further investigation into the operation of Fannie Mae.

7- The congressional elections of November 2005 turned control of congress over to the democrats. This put the chairmanships of all committees in the senate under democrat leadership.

8- In June of 2006 the US Securities and Exchange Commission appeared before the senate subcommittee stating the settlement had been reached with regards to accounting problems with Fannie Mae. But noted continued concerns and the senate failed to follow up on those concerns.

9- The subcommittee and the senate as a whole did not pass any additional oversight for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac

10- In late 2007 Sen. Charles Schumer (NY), and other top Democrats from congress pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase additional “subprime” mortgage loans to stave off bankruptcies.

11- It started out as a fairytale and has now turned into a living nightmare.

Summary – While it fits Obama to yell that President Bush is at fault the truth is far from it. Former President Bill Clinton opened the “pandora box” and congress REFUSED to close it. Obama has been a member of congress since 2004 and there is zero evidence he ever spoke out about the problems with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. As long as they added money to his campaign fund everything was fine.

Here are news stories from various outlets that date back in time before several media outlets added spin to their stories.

9-23-2004 Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41165-2004Sep22.html

2-24-2005 Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47843-2005Feb23.html

10-17-2005 AP Wire Story - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504347/posts

5-23-2006 Los Angles Times - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41165-2004Sep22.html

6-15-2006 U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission - http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2006/ts061506cc.htm

11-15-2007 CNN Money - http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/15/magazines/fortune/fannie_losses.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007111509