Sunday, July 13, 2008

Freddie And Fannie: How You'll Pay For Their Mistakes

I wrote an article a few posts back about Bush's "ownership society" and how it has failed. As we see IndyMac, the second largest bank failure in history, get bailed out by the Feds, who do you think is picking up the tab for all this government action? The New York Times has a great article on the crisis situation we are in.

via NYT:

"It's dispiriting indeed to watch the United States financial system, supposedly the envy of the world, being taken to its knees. But that’s the show we’re watching, brought to you by somnambulant regulators, greedy bank executives and incompetent corporate directors."

"This wasn’t the way the 'ownership society' was supposed to work. Investors weren’t supposed to watch their financial stocks plummet more than 70 percent in less than a year. And taxpayers weren’t supposed to be left holding defaulted mortgages and abandoned homes while executives who presided over balance sheet implosions walked away with millions."

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, established by the Federal Government, could always count on the lobbying machines to keep their wheels oiled when they became exploited by greed. Keep more cash on hand? Raise capital? Beef up their financial positions? Nope.

"Now it looks as if the bill for that largess is coming due. Of course, it will be borne by the usual bagholders: United States taxpayers. You and me."

The same conservatives who championed deregulation that caused all this are the same people who welcome the US Government coming in to bail them out. The Right Wing loves corporate welfare. Why spend money to help people when you can give away billions to help greedy failed businesses?

Read on

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