Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

aceventura3 · 06-18-2008, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

ace.... as a result of a complaint filed by a liberal watchdog group, the Senate Ethics Committee has begun a preliminary investigation of the special treatment given to Dodd and Conrad by Countrywide.

Up until now you insisted that there was no basis for an investigation.

Quote:

ace....what basis for investigation?

Quote:

As to the rest...and you still have offered no justification for a Senate Ethics investigation that I can tell...other than an unsubstantiated claims about "friends of the Countrywide CEO"

Quote:

What do we know, from independent sources....not partisan editorials?

or should we also demand ethics investigations on the basis of every claim of Republican unethical behavior in liberal editorials.

The only recent complaints filed with the Ethics Committee were as a result of records resulting from criminal investigations....not editorials.....Vitter in Lousiana with the DC Madam and Craig of Idao with his arrest for his airport restroom antics.

Now you say the following with no explanation of why all of a sudden you conclude that Democrats are doing their job.

Quote:

It looks to me like the Democrats in the Senate are doing their job in the manner you would hope.

If they investigate this matter, I will have more respect for Democrats than I did before this issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by host

ace, recently resigned Bush admin cabinet member..Alphonso Jackson...he was HUD secretary and accepted his "friends of Angelo" mortgage discount when he was asst. secretary of HUD. HUD is the US housing and urban development regulatory and housing industry promotional agency....Be prepared ace, there will be other recipients disclosed....from both parties. If you were not concerned about Abramoff's former asst...Susan Rankin...sitting down the hall from Bush, arranging with Abramoff to distribute expense perks.....skybox tickets to pro sports events.....to Bush admin. officials and to repub members of congress in violation of gift receipt caps....why your objection to this gift giving to gov't officials from a successful corporate CEO? If you want equal treatment for democrats, ignore this story, too. If you are committed to investigation and justice based on the seriousness of the matter, write to General Mukasey and ask him to respond to the subpaena issued today by the house oversight committee for the transcript of the FBI interview of Bush and Cheney in the Plame identity leak investigation. The subpoena was issued because Mukasey did not reply to the June 3 request letter from the committee chair, Henry Waxman, requesting that transcript. Libby cancelled his appeal of his obstruction and perjury conviction, so prosecutor Fitzgerald was willing to provide the transcript, but said he was blocked by the DOJ from giving it to the people's elected reps on the house committee. No reason has been given to the committee for not permitting Fitzgerald to provide a copy.....and Mukasey ignored the letter of request. Why should any democrat trust any republican or DOJ official to investigate the conduct or ethics of anyone, ace?

I don't have a problem with corrupt and illegal behavior being investigated and people being held accountable for their actions. I simple prefer, accusations, investigations and punishment to be honest, consistent, reasonable and appropriate.

Seems like the WSJ is the only publication I routinely read that is paying attention to this issue, below is the latestes opinion piece on the subject. I would think liberals who have a problem with big business having big influence in Washington would be outraged. Other than Host on here on TFP, I wonder why they are not?

Quote:

Countrywide Financial Corp.'s "friends of Angelo" program provided sweetheart loans to key banking players in Washington, D.C. They included former Fannie Mae chief executive Jim Johnson, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.).

The growing scandal surrounding the "friends of Angelo" loans (so-called by company employees, referring to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo) should serve as a political wake-up call. Yet the Senate appears intent on pushing forward legislation, co-authored by Sen. Dodd, that would bail out the worst actors in the subprime mortgage banking industry.

Campaigning in Lancaster, Pa., on March 31, Sen. Barack Obama blamed Countrywide's CEO for "infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis." Yet Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) and Mr. Dodd have crafted a bill to provide $300 billion in new taxpayer loan guarantees to Countrywide and others. The bill will allow troubled financial institutions to foist the riskiest mortgages in their portfolios onto the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) -- ultimately putting the American taxpayer on the hook for their bad bets.

Right now, nearly a third of Countrywide's mortgage portfolio is composed of an especially chancy loan called a "payment-option ARM." Also known as negative-amortization loans, payment-option ARMs allow borrowers to pay less than the interest owed each month, with the shortfall added to the principal balance. At set intervals the loans are recalculated, or recast, to be fully amortizing. The new payments -- based on current interest rates and a higher balance -- rise dramatically.

Hundreds of thousands of payment-option ARMs are scheduled to recast next spring, which everyone expects to cause a wave of delinquencies. The Dodd-Frank plan would allow Countrywide and others to cherry-pick their worst loans and roll them over to the FHA. The bill has been advanced in the name of homeowners, but it's all too clear who is being rescued.

The FHA cannot handle a Dodd-Frank wave of $300 billion "in-distress" loans. The loan volume alone will nearly double the size of the FHA. Yet last week the agency, floundering under its existing portfolio, announced $4.6 billion in new losses. These losses destroy 22% of the FHA's entire capital reserves and raise doubts about the agency's solvency.

On June 9, FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery told reporters that he opposes the Dodd-Frank approach, saying that the FHA "is not designed to become the federal lender of last resort, a mega-agency to subsidize bad loans." Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that banks will use the program to offload their "highest-risk loans" to the taxpayer, and that a stunning 35% of all of the loans refinanced through Dodd-Frank will eventually default on the FHA.

Unsurprisingly, Countrywide executives have testified in support of expanded FHA refinancing. The company itself is a longtime and significant contributor to Messrs. Dodd and Frank. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics' opensecrets.org, Mr. Dodd raised more than $6.3 million this election cycle -- 76% of his total war chest -- from banks, finance and real estate companies.

As for Republicans, most members of the Senate Banking Committee voted for the Dodd-Frank bill in exchange for reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The reforms, part of a deal brokered by Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.), create a new regulator to establish tougher standards for the portfolio holdings of Freddie and Fannie.

While both of these agencies are in dire need of reform, this deal is still a mistake. By foisting this compromise on their Republican colleagues, Democrats are holding the reform of Fannie and Freddie hostage in order to increase bipartisan support for a bailout of reckless mortgage lenders.

Moreover, the bill creates a new tax that will create a permanent "affordable housing trust fund" -- a $500 million per-year slush fund designed to funnel money to left-wing activist groups like Acorn. Freddie and Fannie must pay into this fund even if they are not profitable, compromising their already overextended capital base.

In a free market, businesses take risks and reap either profits or losses. But markets only work when businesses are held accountable for their bad decisions. The message this proposed legislation sends to the market is clear: Big lenders like Countrywide who make bad bets can count on generous bailouts -- and responsible renters, homeowners and taxpayers who pay their bills on time can count on getting stuck with the tab.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1213...n_commentaries