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[ Monday, July 14, 2008 08:33 PDT ]

Legacy Journal: High Finance, Bad Loans, and Banking Reform

Section:

None

Summary:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are Depression Era hybrid twins that were originally created to extend easy housing credit to individuals, create construction jobs, and bring the power of the federal government to the needs of the poor.  Reduced regulatory and reporting standards, minimal reserve requirements,  access to low interest funds, no taxes on “profits”, and a presumption of federal protection, if necessary lead to a powerful competitive advantage and a dominant home mortgage market share.  Years of increasing size, a Washington, D.C. power base of lobbyists, administration appointments, Congressional inaction , and a looming economic moral hazard contributed to a stock market meltdown of their share prices.

Raines and other friends of Angelo Mozilo, including Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad, and James Johnson, are reported to have received favorable loans from Countrywide.  A California Mozilo company, IndyMac is today officially “failed” and in Fed hands.

Main:

Meanwhile, former Freddy MAC chairman and CEO Franklin Raines and his ilk appear to have escaped tainted but largely beyond the reach of the law. Raines, of Harvard, Oxford, the Clinton OMB, and Lazar Freres, had his mismanagement errors and losses partially covered by insurance.

More:

Posted by: webscribe2 on 07/14 at 08:33 AM
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