Economic Reality

[Conan71]

Wait, Conan, you seriously think Barney Frank, who was in the minority party until 2007 had anything to say about regulation? Perhaps you should look more closely at the regulators...

Uh, yeah, he's been a ranking member on the banking committee for a long time.  There's plenty of evidence and recordings of him assuring there was absolutely nothing wrong with Fannie and Freddie even as they were collapsing.  Let Google be your guide.  Hell there's a whole chronology out there of Bush trying to get the banksters reigned in and being rebuffed at every turn by D's and R's in Congress who held sway over those matters.

[Conan71]

WRONG you are AGAIN! By and large, WS donors are (R)...and YES, they were the one's who rubber stamped everything warlike Bush propositioned the citizens into. Not that the dims aren't complicit....

"Was it a political party or an entirely corrupt political system? "  Yes, it is....my point exactly. Must be difficult to come to the realization you as a citizen have become.....well.....MEANINGLESS!

My challenge to you: go to Huffpo and look up who the major players at WaMu, Bear Stearns, and companies like that were donating to it's all right there.  The idea that banksters were largely in the pockets of Republicans is bunk. 

[nathanm]

You seriously believe that the ranking minority member gets to say anything about anything? This isn't the Senate.

Besides, Fannie and Freddie's troubles are seriously overrated. They were in much better shape than the commercial and investment banks that stupidly kept MBS on their books.

Barney Frank was partly responsible for Fannie and Freddie's trouble: He failed to get the word out about the real state of their finances. As every company that depends on rolling over financing was at the time, they were having cash flow issues. Now with interest rates stupidly low? They should be making money hand over fist and should therefore easily earn back any losses from bad mortgages, even if they all lost 100%. God forbid the papers report on that, though. It's not a sensational enough story.

[Gaspar]

Wait, Conan, you seriously think Barney Frank, who was in the minority party until 2007 had anything to say about regulation? Perhaps you should look more closely at the regulators...

Oh yes, you'r right.  As the ranking member of the Committee on Financial Services he would have nothing to do with it.

I was going to post all of the hilarious Youtubes, but what's the point.  Nate, there is no way that you can write Mr. Frank out of this history.

[Conan71]

You seriously believe that the ranking minority member gets to say anything about anything? This isn't the Senate.

Besides, Fannie and Freddie's troubles are seriously overrated. They were in much better shape than the commercial and investment banks that stupidly kept MBS on their books.

Barney Frank was partly responsible for Fannie and Freddie's trouble: He failed to get the word out about the real state of their finances. As every company that depends on rolling over financing was at the time, they were having cash flow issues. Now with interest rates stupidly low? They should be making money hand over fist and should therefore easily earn back any losses from bad mortgages, even if they all lost 100%. God forbid the papers report on that, though. It's not a sensational enough story.

Yes I do believe that.  He's a senior member of Congress.  Majority party or minority party, senior members wield great power and have the ability to influence those in the majority. And no their troubles were not over-rated.  That's engaging in Barney logic, Nathan.

Was Bahney Fwank incompetent or corrupt in overlooking the obvious?

[Gaspar]

Awww smile, I can't resist. . .

[nathanm]

And no their troubles were not over-rated.  That's engaging in Barney logic, Nathan.

I take it you weren't reading their financials...

[Conan71]

I take it you weren't reading their financials...

Yes I was reading them.

Saying they were in better shape is like saying the USS Arizona was in better shape than the Titanic because it sank in shallower water.

I ask again, was Frank incompetent or corrupt in his handling of Freddie and Fannie.  (wow, that sounds really bad)  

[nathanm]

Eh, read John Hempton's series on Fannie + Freddie and get back to me.

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2009/08/modelling-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac.html

[Conan71]

Eh, read John Hempton's series on Fannie + Freddie and get back to me.

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2009/08/modelling-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac.html

Ahhh, a favorite of the liberals: blog spin!

I'll read that screed when I get back to my desk in the morning.

Here's something for you to read if you have trouble sleeping tonight.  This is a factual account from the chambers of the people who were supposed to shovel up the smile from F & F.  Date on this is June 3, 2009. 

"We meet today to examine the present condition and future sta- tus of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together have lost more than $150 billion since the third quarter of 2007. This hearing is not only the first hearing in the 111th Congress on the two Govern- ment-Sponsored Enterprises, but is also the first in a series that the Capital Markets Subcommittee will convene to review these matters."

http://financialservices.house.gov/Media/file/hearings/111/Printed%20Hearings/111-38.pdf

I don't care who you are, $150 billion in losses is staggering.

[nathanm]

Yep, that's a lot. Less than many of the other big financial firms. And most of them are thus far paper losses, not cash losses.

I think it's funny that you dismiss my link out of hand without even bothering to read it. It has numbers and stuff. I guess you can call arithmetic spin, if you like. It makes you look reactionary, though.

[Teatownclown]

Enjoy the truth....

Yes, move on....fire away. The truth hurts. We are not broke.

[Red Arrow]

So I ... (delete your qualifiers)... will vote enthusiastically for someone I'm lukewarm about because to vote the alternative is madness. 

That's why I usually vote republican.

[we vs us]

That's why I usually vote republican.

You say potato, I say whackadoodle.

[Red Arrow]

But Conan,
In the Keynesian model this would not matter, because there is no variable for "confidence".

I think that is much like neglecting higher order terms, until they are needed to make the model correct.