.....in 2005:

“John McCain. 25 May 2005, speaking to the Senate:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.”
....Senator John McCain, May 25, 2005.......OVER 3 YEARS AGO!!!!

He was ignored. The legislation was blocked by Democrats, with the assistance of a few Republicans. Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Banking Committee was getting his pockets lined by Country Wide, and laughingly running a no-chance campaign for President while Wall Street burned.
http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2008/0...bama-got-rich/

So----can ANY of the Obama supporters on this forum show us where Obama saw this coming and asked for support in getting it fixed----as McCain did more than 3 years ago?

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

Is it no wonder that the Main Stream Media is not reporting this? The networks are definitely in Obama's corner.

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We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. -- Ann Coulter

Yes. It's terrible how "in bed with Obama" the mainstream press is.

If I were McCain, I'd take out a full-page ad in The Washington Post and/or maybe the New York Times and print nothing but this address of his to the Senate from 2005. Probably EACH would refuse to print it, though.

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

That's interesting, because McCain is for deregulating health insurance the same way he was for deregulating the banks.

So one has to wonder....he's for regulation one minute and against it another...

He's also lying about how he was all for privatizing social security.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archi...0/1428904.aspx

Fannie and Freddie didn't fail due to accounting scandals, they failed because their balance sheets were full of subprime crap. Nothing in McCain's legislation was going to wish away trillions in crappy mortgage back securities.

This isn't about "regulation vs. deregulation." It's about more government oversight of a GSE for these mammoth organizations called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that have been poorly run by their Congress and Senate Oversight Committees. IF the government is going to sponsor something that the U.S. taxpayers are ultimately responsible for---they better darned well make sure they have the proper oversight. And obviously those in charge in the Congress like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, and others were NOT doing their jobs and were REFUSING to limit the size of these mammoth organiztions' portfolios. And they rejected calls from Pres. Bush and McCain going all the way back to 2001 to fix them. EVEN NOW---after it's obvious failure and $200 billion cost to taxpayers, Barney Frank, House Financial Services Chairman, STILL won't back a reduction in their mortgage portfolios. And therefore, since he and his Democrat cohorts in the Congress and Senate refuse to do their jobs, the Federal Reserve needs to do so.

"To protect the financial system from systemic risk going forward, the plan strengthens the GSE (government-sponsored enterprise) regulatory reform legislation currently moving through Congress by giving the Federal Reserve a consultative role in the new GSE regulator's process for setting capital requirements and other prudential standards," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a statement."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/bondsN...35542020080714

It's been the idea that "everyone should own a home" whether they could afford one or not---with no money down, no income qualifications, and zero interest rates that have gotten us into this mess. BOTH political parties have bought into this idea at one time or another. And BOTH were wrong.

It's the Community Reinvestment Act which has forced banks to make such poor loans. Banks that failed to make enough of these loans were often held hostage by activists. Robert Litan, an economists of the Brookings Institute, told the Washington Post this year that banks "had to show they were making a conscious effort to make loans to subprime borrowers." Phil Gramm fought to limit these CRA "requirements" in the 1990's, albeit to little effect and much political jeering."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204078161261183.html

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

Haven't we dealt with this one already? The "reforms" McCain allegedly called for would have done nothing but make the current problem worse... if anything.

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"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

--President-elect Barack Obama
November 5, 2008

They failed due to mismanagement---which included hiding certain things they were doing in their accounting. They also failed due to letting their portfolio's grow with these worthless subprime mortgages that went to people who could NOT afford a home and were NOT qualified. "These are the firms that bought the increasingly questionable mortgages originated by Angelo Mozilo's Countrywide and others. Even as the bubble was popping, they dived into pools of subprime and Alt-A ("liar") loans to meet Congressional demand to finance "affordable" housing. And they were both the cause and beneficiary of the great interest-group army that lobbied for ever more housing subsidies."

Ultimately their failure can be attributed to those inside Congress and the Senate---Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer and others who were responsible for their oversight. They have been begged for years to change things, to act, to do something, but to no avail. And now--it's cost us $200 billion just in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac failure alone.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204078161261183.html

Even now---after the $200 bailout with taxpayer money for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "Barney Frank, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank STILL won't back a reduction in their mortgage portfolios." At a minimum, he should be removed from this Committee.

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

two points

the congress controlled the house, senate and white house during that time. why do you not casitigate the republican failure to address mKKKain's supposed concerns

show us what aspect of the proposed bill would have alleviated the meltdown we are witnessing. there was nothing which would have prevented it within that bill. but look for yourself and come back to us with what you have found

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Quote:

"I like to watch the news, because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news ... if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you're right."

Frank Zappa

First off, Congress isn't primarily responsible for oversight of financial institutions. That falls on the SEC, Fed Reserve...etc etc. Secondly, the Republicans controlled congress during the build up to this crisis. By the time dems got both houses back Feddie and Fannie were already doomed. I don't know how you randomly mention 3 democrats without mentioning the Republicans who made up the majority on these committees for most of the crisis.