Maxine Waters: "We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and particularly Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines"

Isn't it really the people - the american public that have gotten into this mess. People are the ones buying ridiculously big house they can't afford, after all. No one is forcing them to buy expensive houses. Why don't we operate on a standard of rent and save until you can afford to buy? (And then buy modest houses.) Wouldn't that make a lot more sense than risky loans (on both the part of the lenders and those being lent to) and paying collectively millions in interest each year?

Why don't we operate on a standard of rent and save until you can afford to buy? (And then buy modest houses.) Wouldn't that make a lot more sense than risky loans (on both the part of the lenders and those being lent to) and paying collectively millions in interest each year?

Good question. That's the way it used to be.

FAnnie Mae
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It's wiki so follow up appropriately: (During the Clinton administration)

Related rule changes gave Fannie and Freddie extraordinary leverage, allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments, vs. 10% for banks, encouraging banks to make even more loans to low income communities, often with no down payment and little documentation. By 2007, Fannie and Freddie owned or guaranteed nearly half of the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market.[5] Due to massive financial losses, on September 7, 2008 the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA.[10]
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These mortgages may be given to people with low income, poor credit history, little or no down-payment and sometimes illegal aliens.

Now ask: who are these entities (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) donating the most money to? Do we trust the largest recipients of cash to handle the oversight?

No matter how many times you or your candidate say it, Franklin Raines is not an advisor to the Obama campaign, nor has he ever been.

Zero contact between Obama's campaign and Raines, or just not very much?

I asked before, "what are the fundamentals?"

Is it small business, the American worker, the spirit of independence of the common man?

Or is it big business, big banking and lobbyists?

"Zero contact between Obama's campaign and Raines, or just not very much?"

Everyone is responsible for correcting the wrongs they have committed. It's a sign of desperation and abandon to say otherwise.

"whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

In the business world, when you mess up very badly, you are removed from your job.

If the man was dishonest in his dealings, why expect that he will be honest now?

It's not so much a matter of responsibility, it's a matter of integrity.

uh huh...

"Zero contact between Obama's campaign and Raines, or just not very much?"

No, Reaganite, it is you and MzEllen who are wrong, wrong, wrong. So I guess you'll have to think of another lie to propagate. It shouldn't be difficult, judging from your candidate's astonishing and nearly continuous lie-making machinery, thanks to the same slimy operatives who destroyed his own campaign in 2000.

From the Washington Post's own Fact Checker:

The Facts

The McCain video attempts to link Obama to Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the bankrupt mortgage giant, Fannie Mae, who also happens to be African American. It then shows a photograph of an elderly white woman taxpayer who has supposedly been "stuck with the bill" as a result of the "extensive financial fraud" at Fannie Mae.

The Obama campaign last night issued a statement by Raines insisting, "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama spokesman Bill Burton went a little further, telling me in an e-mail that the campaign had "neither sought nor received" advice from Raines "on any matter."

So what evidence does the McCain campaign have for the supposed Obama-Raines connection? It is pretty flimsy, but it is not made up completely out of whole cloth. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers points to three items in the Washington Post in July and August. It turns out that the three items (including an editorial) all rely on the same single conversation, between Raines and a Washington Post business reporter, Anita Huslin, who wrote a profile of the discredited Fannie Mae boss that appeared on July 16. The profile reported that Raines, who retired from Fannie Mae four years ago, had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."

Since this has now become a campaign issue, I asked Huslin to provide the exact circumstances of the quote. She explained that she was chatting with Raines during the photo shoot, and asked "if he was engaged at all with the Democrats' quest for the White House. He said that he had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign. I asked him about what, and he said 'oh, general housing, economy issues.' ('Not mortgage/foreclosure meltdown or Fannie-specific,' I asked, and he said 'no.')"

By Raines's own account, he took a couple of calls from someone on the Obama campaign, and they had some general discussions about economic issues. I have asked both Raines and the Obama people for more details on these calls and will let you know if I receive a reply.

The Pinocchio Test

The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama on "housing and mortgage policy." If we are to believe Raines, he did have a couple of telephone conversations with someone in the Obama campaign. But that hardly makes him an adviser to the candidate himself -- and certainly not in the way depicted in the McCain video release."

"Kudos to Michele McGinty for her bravery in exposing these truths and for facing down the not-so-subtle intimidation she's getting from lefties on this blog."

Ooh, so much bravery sitting behind the safety of a computer and vomiting. And what intimidation? She never even shows the slightest inkling of checking these comments.

These are the same things Obama supporters say about all of his associations. They weren't associates they were neighbors, pastors, unpaid spokesman. They can't and won't admit his judgement is horrible.

What problem did Fannie Mae have in 2004?
The company was doing well. Check the stock prices.

Where is that proof that Raine cooked the books?
There was none during the investigation

Fannie Mae had very little involvement the sub prime lending prior,
Raines leaving Fannie mae in 2005.

"The company was doing well. Check the stock prices."

Wow!! Mr Unite Us, that is the very same level of cognitive reasoning skills that has gotten us in this fix in the first place.

The number of foreclosures are rapidly increasing, and banks are overwhelmed with all of the delinquent loans. They are unable to attend to everyone that needs help. Many homeowners who have or are facing having a mortgage in trouble count on loan modification. If you have delinquent payments and meet the requirements you can apply for the Federal Loan Modification program. Requirements are defined – you must be able to prove hardship. You also have to have gotten the mortgage before Jan 1st, 2009. If your mortgage is through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, your window of opportunity closes in 2010, if not then you have until 2012 to file an application. If your mortgage or personal loans are in trouble, then you would do well to get assistance with loan modification.