If you think – after the AIG/Bailout/Stimulus fiasco – that you can stomach listening to Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, Frank, Dodd, and others pledging their faith in Obama’s commitment to restraint, accountability, and transparency, check out this video of compiled statements.
Hat Tip: Ericka Andersen and www.GOP.gov
One of RFC Radio’s most popular talk show hosts – Stephen Kruiser of ”Planet Kruiser” which you can catch every weekday at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST and on Saturdays during the 5-hour KruiserPalooza – named Senator Chris Dodd the Tool of the Week.
VDH @ The Corner agrees and tells us why:
Senator Dodd’s Nine Lives Are about Up [Victor Davis Hanson]
Let us count them . . .
1. He claimed that he had not the slightest involvement in the AIG bonus exemption that he in fact helped insert.
2 He got more AIG money than anyone in the Congress — more even than Barack Obama, who came in second.
3. He got a sweetheart deal on an Irish “cottage” from a crooked stock-trader.
4. He got two preferential discount mortgage interest deals from the now-bankrupt Countrywide.
5. He was one of the Fannie Mae-enabling overseers at a time it was going broke and giving senators like Dodd himself campaign cash — he topped out near $134,000 higher than anyone else.
6. He got a sweetheart profit deal from a condo joint-buy with crook Edward Downe, Jr.
7. He intervened with the Clinton administration to get the felon Downe pardoned.
8. He misrepresented the value of his Irish cottage that he obtained via the agency of the dubious Mr. Kessinger.
9. He is the nation’s premier hypocrite as he lambastes Wall Street crooks and insiders from his collapsing soapbox.
Well, those are the proverbial nine lives — so, Senator Dodd, time to go: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and lets us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
With the takeover of AIG, the federal government has wangled its fourth major bailout and taken control of its very first insurance company.
Both McCain and Obama have called the bailouts of AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Bear Stearns “necessary measures.” McCain blames greedy Wall Street tycoons while Obama blames failed GOP policies.
Most sensible folks agree that the government’s implicit guarantee to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were a license to lenders to run rampant. Fannie and Freddie were able to buy bundles of home mortgages and/or mortgage-backed securities in massive quantities without contemplation of the financial risks.
Some economists blame the regulators/regulations. I disagree. The financial industry is heavily regulated. It was the government’s guarantee of Fannie and Freddie that emboldened lenders to put together dicey loans and encouraged undisciplined financial endeavors.
Government policy laid the foundation of the mortgage crisis more than three decades ago when Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The law forced banks to loan money to low-income borrowers in order to meet the “needs” of the local community.
No worries, though. The banks knew they could sell off those loans to Fannie or Freddie, and F & F knew they could buy those loans with little regard for the risk.
I’m reminded of the past weekend here in Las Vegas when a few enthusiastic friends (first time visitors) went out and hit the blackjack tables.
A young man playing two hands was dealt four sevens. A friend advised him to split and play four hands. Pondering the risks, he hesitated – but the helpful friend offered to cover his losses and let him keep all the chips if he won.
What do you suppose that young man did?
He behaved as anyone would: he played all four sevens. And, unfortunately, lost on all.
So it goes on the tables of Sin City. So too, in Congressional corridors and bank board rooms.
My blog is worth $23,146.14.
How much is your blog worth?
© 2009 Blogivists.com. Maintained by 1773 Media
