Moonage Political Webdream

Yesterday we had two issues, among many, that demanded Obama’s attention. Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. residential mortgage funds provider, on Monday asked the government for an additional $8.4 billion after the company lost $13.1 billion in the first quarter. Barack Obama, addressing an audience in Hampton, Virginia, said nothing.  The government very quietly wrote [...]

Obama has had a recurring theme that private sector banks are greedy.  He’s held true to that philosophy the entire time he campaigned and has as President as well.  Lots of other people jumped on the bandwagon: Join thousands of ordinary Americans October 25 through 27 as we protest the irresponsible behavior of America’s big [...]

I read Seeking Alpha’s “Bigwigs Debate Too Big to Fail“.  It discusses the opinion of several key financial players of the US economy regarding whether institutions can be “too big to fail”, and if so, what to do about them.  Very excellent read.  The players fall into two categories: Bust ‘em up: Alan Greenspan Simon [...]

A lot has been made over the collapse of Fannie Mae.  For a while, peeps kept insisting it was apparently a short term blip and that a huge infusion of cash would apparently make everything good.    Other peeps, like me and a few others, have argued that unless they change the rules and allow [...]

Foxnews reported this otherwise not terribly exciting news bit: After serving for six months, the CEO of ailing mortgage giant Freddie Mac  will step down from his post and from the board of directors by March 13. David Moffett has been serving as CEO since September, after the government seized control of it along with [...]

Every now and then, not really too often, I feel like I am the only one with the insight and divine intervention of knowing what the heck is going on. That’s not necessarily an arrogant feeling. It’s more like a frustration thing. It’s obvious what’s happening, but no one else sees it. Instead, they just [...]

The gall and stupidity of Nancy Pelosi never ceases to amaze me.  Today, with arguably the economic welfare of the United States on the line, and for that matter, several other countries of the world, Nancy Pelosi assured the world an agreement to bail out the struggling spec market was at hand.  She’d have it [...]

In a move that surprised me, the bailout bill was voted down in Congress.  It was fairly close, 228-205 I think it was.  In order to get it back on track, some media are saying Pelosi expects nine Republicans to change their votes for a re-consideration.  This is how she’s motivating the Republicans: Now, slap [...]

If you’re going to debate this current financial market crisis or criticize the efforts to mitigate it, you HAVE to read this article by Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters.org: …The Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers, mostly in minority areas. Age-old standards of banking prudence got thrown out the window. In [...]

When the stock market tanked on news of AIG being bailed out by the government, and Lehman joining the ranks of failing spec banks, John McCain did the unthinkable, call it maverick if you will, and told the US the economy was fundamentally OK.  Barack Obama immediately seized that comment and hammered away at McCain. [...]