2004 - Hearing to Investigate Fannie Mae Illegal Bookkeeping

Rep. Richard Baker, R-Louisiana says Report troubling and important to the tax payers who would pay for the cleanup. Calls for regulation.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California complains about hearings. Says that nothing is broke. Says there is no crisis at Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Says Frank Raine's is outstanding in leadership.

Under that outstanding leadership of Frank Raines everything in the 1992 Act has worked fine. GSE exceeding housing goals and they should only be focusing on the regulator so not to impede the affordable housing mission. This mission has flourished with desk-top underwriting to 100% loans.

Rep. Greogory Meeks, D-New York says pissed off at the people who caused this investigation to be happening. Says this is just an excuse to cause an opening for people who want to do away with GSEs. Also that this is an attempt to change the direction of the GSEs even though they have done a tremendous job. Says there is nothing wrong with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, but there is a question of the compliance of the people raising questions about them. Continues to say that regulating Fannie and Freddie is like giving heart surgery to someone that doesn't need it. Says he is very upset about this investigation.

Another section shows Meeks asking why he should have confidence in the regulator, to which Armando Falcon returns that Freddie Mac applied accounting rules improperly and also managed earnings improperly, not his regulatory section. That this investigation isn't about his section doing wrong but about the wrongs of Freddie and Fannie.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-California says that they need to move quickly to set up a new regulatory structure for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and home loan banks. Says Congress needs to set up that new regulatory structure to have at least the same powers of other financial regulators.

Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Missouri says the hearing is only about the political lynching of Frank Raines.

A rush to judgement as the markets are not worried about the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae.

Rep. Christophe Shays, R-Connecticut says that even though there were regulatory acts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn't come under any of them. In fact, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played by their own rules.

He says "I am tempted to ask how many people in this room are on the payroll of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." Continues by saying that Fannie and Freddie hired lobbyists, some to lobby and others to not lobby, so that no one else could hire them.

Later says that Fannie Mae has manipulated OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) and that with OFHEO coming out with such a strong report about Fannie tells him this is the lower (minimum), not the higher (maximum)

Asks Raines about the 3% set aside in portfolio when a bank that gets below 4% is in deep trouble. Wants to know why. Raines says well banks don't just have single and multiple family loans.

Rep. Arthur Davis, D-Alabama says that specific, but broad judgements about the management of these organizations and that the regulators crossed an invisible line by trying to regulate when they had no right to do so.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, Financial Service Committee Ranking Member says that the people doing the report seem to indicate a safety and soundness problem but that he doesn't see anything in that report that shows a safety and soundness problem.

Sees nothing to show safety and soundness and it is bad judgement to raise this as it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Illinois
Raines 1.1 million bonus on a $526,000 salary
Gorlick 779,000 bonus on a $567,000 salary
Fannie Mae knew the rules but in 1998 when shares were 3.26 per share did the maximum payout when there should have no payouts for bonuses. They ignored the principles of payouts.

Frank Raines, Fannie Mae Chairman & CEO says these loans are so risk-less that the capital for holding them should be under 2%

President Clinton says the responsibility of the democrats rests in them resisting any efforts of the republicans and himself in tightening up regulations and controls over Fannie and Freddie.

Democrates covering up problems in Fannie and Freddie

I watched this video again early this morning. I know that a lot of people, who just do not believe that the democrats are to blame for the failure of the housing market pulling down the rest of the markets, will not watch the video. They just do not want to believe. So avoiding the listening and you avoid having to know the truth.

I know it must be President Bush or the republicans fault because they did not do enough to stop it, but remember that the house has been democratically controlled. You folks wanted "change" a few years ago and you got it. Now that same change has lead to falling markets, failed banks, people going broke, losing homes, and has cost the tax payers of this US billions or more of our hard earned dollars.

Now you want to elect a person who says he must raise taxes to implement things like the insurance programs that will most likely benefit the same people who were benefited by those sub-prime housing loans. Those same people who failed to make their payments and we are now at the point of bailing out.

I know you say that the increases in taxes for the various programs will benefit everyone, but that has been said over and over throughout the years, and it has been something I have never seen come back to my family and friends except in the form of having to pay more. Yep, increased taxes with no extra benefits to those around me. We go back to that socialist society where we get to work and earn the funds, our officials take it away from us, and give it away to someone else. Isn't that nice.

You know we have been fleeced and the end of this has not been decided yet. We are in line for a bunch more of this fleecing to occur.

Vote out those democrats in your upcoming election. Put back into place those who tried to stop the impending disaster that has now befalling us. Take back the protections that would come from those you listened to in that video or read on here. It is not to late to stop the further fleecing of our paychecks.

So you say that everyone has a right to affordable housing. Well, do I not have the right to say that once you have taken from me and then taken again, and again, and again, that I have a right to keep more of what I earned to make my life not drop down to that level of now I am the one that is need of help.

I do not run out and purchase houses I cannot afford, I do not have credit cards that I run up to the max so that I cannot afford to pay the bills, I do not ask other taxpayers for handouts from them. If you earned it why should you be required to share it with others. I earn little enough and should not have my taxes raised to give to programs that will never benefit me.

VOTE Republican, VOTE McCain-Palin and any other republicans you know running. Take back this country for us, the people who pay for it in the first place.