AMERICAblog: Bush "nationalized" Freddie and Fannie
jcgraham77
· 1 year ago
I really think this whole mess is making beleivers out of a lot of us. I opened up an Express acct one day--not sure why I fell for their sell but I did. I only put a few hundred on it few some shirts...they signed me up for paperless billing without me knowing--it turns out they salesperson got additional credit for this...the bills were going to my junkmail and I totally forgot I even had the account. Obviously went delinquent upon which they called me and I paid it off . Weeks later got letters from all my other cards quadrupling my interest rates to my horror. I haven't used them in months and am still trying to get my payments/interest lowered. Its totally my fault and I will not rely on my cc's for anything...not even a milkshake. If I dont' have my debit card or cash at hand and can afford it...forget it. Credit cards are for fools, the wealthy or extrememly well organized.
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 1 year ago
I had a very serious ID theft about seven years ago. The root cause was receiving my mail in a street side rural mailbox. A woman had this ring, of her teenage kids, going around and stealing checks, bank statements, etc. The police have been worthless. She opened up several credit card accounts in my name and maxed them. All of the CC companies have dropped the charges in my favor but one....DISCOVER. They refused and wanted their 20K$ and would not budge. I would not budge either. My credit score is now so low I cannot get a car loan. Fortunately I worked a deal with my leasing people and it's working out.
We live with NO credit cards at all now. Only debit. Our score will come up eventually but we are finding life is much better with no CCs at all in the house. For travel, which is rare, we keep a savings account handy and most places accept this readily.
jcgraham77
· 1 year ago
I really think this whole mess is making beleivers out of a lot of us. I opened up an Express acct one day--not sure why I fell for their sell but I did. I only put a few hundred on it few some shirts...they signed me up for paperless billing without me knowing--it turns out they salesperson got additional credit for this...the bills were going to my junkmail and I totally forgot I even had the account. Obviously went delinquent upon which they called me and I paid it off . Weeks later got letters from all my other cards quadrupling my interest rates to my horror. I haven't used them in months and am still trying to get my payments/interest lowered. Its totally my fault and I will not rely on my cc's for anything...not even a milkshake. If I dont' have my debit card or cash at hand and can afford it...forget it. Credit cards are for fools, the wealthy or extrememly well organized.
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
The reason you were screwed connects directly to the Republican Congress who allowed credit card company lobbyists to write the bankruptcy bill which passed and was signed by President Failure in April of 2005 with very littel media notice. As I mentioned below about Fannie Might.... Neosocialism, where blame (floating due dates, fees and surcharges too) is redistributed to the masses. America, where a man is free to shake change from the pockets of the helpless...
jeffg166
· 1 year ago
The welfare state for the rich continues in the good old U.S. of A.
I wasn't there but I imagine this is what October 1929 felt like.
The bottom is falling out but don't worry John McCain was a POW. Plus sister Sara will sass it up. Good times.
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
Average Americans should be marching in the streets against "Economic Socialism for CEOs"
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
Average Americans should be marching in the streets against "Economic Socialism for CEOs" while the government promotes "hyper-capitalism for the poor."
Indigo
· 1 year ago
There were plenty of signals that something along these lines might happen. Calling it "nationalizing" is an aggressive step towards truth-in-advertising, something that disappeared from public life in the U.S. with Reaganism. I think this is another cyclic event, this time on a larger, not-quite-Mayan, scale. Thatcherism-Reaganism was always a steel-hearted effort to enrich the rich and empoverish the poor.
It's working well enough now that the bones are showing on the least well padded. That the inevitable crisis turns out to be a housing credit crunch is an accident of poor policy, but since that's where the weakest point turns out to be, that's where the emergency is. This will not resolve quickly.
We have two obvious options but I'm sure there are others. First, we could push the EU harder over trade issues, eventually getting a nice hot war going with the Fourth Reich, bomb Europe flat and then go for a do-over economy. Personally, I think that's an attractive option. The other option is not all that attractive but it also works: follow the Argentine economy down the drain.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
getting a nice hot war going with the Fourth Reich, bomb Europe flat and then go for a do-over economy
But that is forgetting that the most threatening, fastest growing economies are China and India. That is, must turn those nations in glowing, radioactive glass as they will still bury us with their economies if we leave them. They will also gobble up the European Union.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
That works too. :-)
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
Is this a done deal or speculation? Nothing on AP, LA Times and the Washington Post article is saying it has happened.
Flaw of our economy is our predatory capitalism, unrestrained and unregulated. Someone said deregulation really means decriminalization, that is they won't serve prison terms and can't be prosecuted. Add to that the damn Congress knew well that they were giving them the green light to steal everything in sight. Deregulation is clearly a criminal effort. Time to put an end to this bullshit and reinstate the criminal penalties. But, does the law have to state theft or murder is a crime in the criminal statutes? If these bastards stole, throw them in jail. And I've long, long said they are murdering citizens when they take away utilities, food and homes. People are going to freeze to death this winter. We are at the height of summer heat now and seems unthinkable but it will be below freezing by late November in Minneapolis-St. Paul where these bastards held their drunken orgy/convention this week. A few weeks later, it will be below zero.
Damn the Democrats if they don't do anything. With the take over of Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac, now is the time to stop foreclosures by putting an end to the predatory ballooning interest rates, but beyond that stop the cut off of utilities during the freezing weather, and give a helping hand to the American people instead of the corporations. Undoubtedly, one of the terms of nationalizing Freddie and Fannie is that their CEOs will be out but still receive their golden parachutes. They are criminals and instead, those parachutes (and their fortunes) should also be nationalized (to finance part of the aid to the people) and the criminals sent to prison. We don’t allow bank robbers to keep the money they stole.
Yeah, yeah! I know. Same thing as holding Bush and his gang of DC criminals accountable. Which is why I believe Pelosi, Reid and the Democratic cabal are as complicit as the Congressional Republicans. It is also the real reason why our founding fathers intended our government to have complete separation of powers between the three branches of our Federal government. Our damn Judicial Branch also won’t prosecute these criminals either.
i guess every aspect of our economy and government is going to have to hit rock bottom before we all wake up. i'm just afraid we can't afford to do that with everything, like climate change.
my partner's fox-watching father is constantly harping on fears that the dems=socialism...can't wait to bust out Chris's line on him: Who would've guessed that Bush was such a fan of euro-socialism?
anotherdumguy
· 1 year ago
Don't believe everything you read. This is a bailout/transfer of funds to the well connected. They are going to wipe out the shareholders, buy all the playerz are in the bonds, which will be made whole. There is plenty of blame on all sides here.
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
totally off topic, but i'm pissed. thanks a lot Sarah Palin. just thanks so much for all you've done for women. *don't overlook the comments on this post from Jezebel, they're the best part.*
The feds have implicitly guaranteed mortgages issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for years, now this has become explicit. The fed had to guarantee gives it imprimatur to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt or banks holding bundled mortgage debt (CMOs & MBS) would fail and the government would be on the hook for their depositors andf panic would ensue.
The bailout is not without fleas. The difficulty with the bailout is that it appears that the feds are protecting top tier equity and debt holders that invested in these two publicly traded companies. These investors should be disclosed as should the current value of their debt and/or preferred shares so that the taxpayers know whose investments they are paying to save.
I understand that the fed allowed banks to hold preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so it would make sense to protect these holderrs. However, I also understand that China, Russia and certain soverign wealth funds are heavily invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares and debt. If this is the case, US taxpayers are bailing out Chine, Russia and other foreign wealth. That should play well in Wasilla.
With all that said, Americans need to get back to work so that they can serve their masters with tax flow to fund this grand plan.
This republican bailout is clear socialism and close to facism.
bunnyjump
· 1 year ago
Under the republicans the US have entered a state of corporate feudalism. Our "government" protects the very wealthy and corporations while the populace toils to make ends meet in an increasingly worker-hostile environment. That same populace is also burdened with the debts of the wealthy few in terms of tax cuts to the wealthy and corporate bailouts.
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
Yes, you could see it all over the Republican convention. The hyper wealthy who just can't understand why those poor people choose to have such a hard time making ends meet! Since the wealthy in our supposed "free market" can not fail they don't understand how poor people FAIL all the time. They think poor people have a bad attitude and just choose their fate. Its so hard for them to relate when they drive their businesses into the ground and then get bailed out with taxpayer money while they relax in the sun at one of their tax shelter beach resorts.
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
Wow, Bush is kind of another Castro or Chavez, except they weren't total failures. Are the Rethug Convention brown shirts chanting "Socialist, socialist"? But, it's neosocialism, isn't it? The redistribution of blame to the masses.
TxDeb
· 1 year ago
I'm trying to understand how this affects me as a mortgage holder and taxpayer. Have I got this straight:
I have a mortgage. It belongs to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo sells it to Fed or Fran. I'm still paying Wells Fargo, though. Fed and Fran go under. As a taxpayer, I'm going to have to pay for them going under. But they went under holding my mortgage. So am I technially going to be paying my mortgage twice?
tbhull
· 1 year ago
No, you still have to pay your mortgage as a debtor. As a taxpayer, like all other taxpayers, your taxes are going to protect investors (i.e. banks, China, Russia and other wealth funds) that invested in the preferred shares and debt (bonds issued toinvestors, not mortgage debt) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. also as a taxpayer, like all other taxpayers, your taxes are going to ensure the value and cash flow of the mortgages of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue gets paid to thoise that have invested in this fdebt or bundled debt (collateralized mortgage obligations or mortgage backed securities) expect when all the mortgages pay on time. Basically, the government pays/insures the note but a mortgage holder does not get their house back if they defaulyted on then note and they lose their house to foreclosure. The money stays in the money with the helping hand of good mnother government and the poor find the street, par for the course.
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
The American dollar can't handle any more pressure. Look for hyper inflation and the dollar dropping even lower. Thanks Republicans! This is all part of the Bu$h / McCain "Ownership Society" they used to crow about all the time.
Scar
· 1 year ago
Had to wait until the Republican convention was over....
LawMichigander
· 1 year ago
I am not sure this is legal given its scale and it is unprecedented. There is no rational reason to do this. The individual home owners should get protection from the gov't not the banks that were playing russian craps.
nikto
· 1 year ago
Wow.
So Bush is a Social-eest?
Gangsters are capable of anything.
MarxMarvelous
· 1 year ago
It's strange that, even though this site is amazingly socialist, the bloggers aren't celebrating this turn of events. Isn't this what liberals wants, bigger nanny state government?
paige
· 1 year ago
Hey, it worked for Britney- why not Freddie and Fanny!?
All Comments
We live with NO credit cards at all now. Only debit. Our score will come up eventually but we are finding life is much better with no CCs at all in the house. For travel, which is rare, we keep a savings account handy and most places accept this readily.
As I mentioned below about Fannie Might....
Neosocialism, where blame (floating due dates, fees and surcharges too) is redistributed to the masses.
America, where a man is free to shake change from the pockets of the helpless...
I wasn't there but I imagine this is what October 1929 felt like.
The bottom is falling out but don't worry John McCain was a POW. Plus sister Sara will sass it up. Good times.
It's working well enough now that the bones are showing on the least well padded. That the inevitable crisis turns out to be a housing credit crunch is an accident of poor policy, but since that's where the weakest point turns out to be, that's where the emergency is. This will not resolve quickly.
We have two obvious options but I'm sure there are others. First, we could push the EU harder over trade issues, eventually getting a nice hot war going with the Fourth Reich, bomb Europe flat and then go for a do-over economy. Personally, I think that's an attractive option. The other option is not all that attractive but it also works: follow the Argentine economy down the drain.
But that is forgetting that the most threatening, fastest growing economies are China and India. That is, must turn those nations in glowing, radioactive glass as they will still bury us with their economies if we leave them. They will also gobble up the European Union.
Flaw of our economy is our predatory capitalism, unrestrained and unregulated. Someone said deregulation really means decriminalization, that is they won't serve prison terms and can't be prosecuted. Add to that the damn Congress knew well that they were giving them the green light to steal everything in sight. Deregulation is clearly a criminal effort. Time to put an end to this bullshit and reinstate the criminal penalties. But, does the law have to state theft or murder is a crime in the criminal statutes? If these bastards stole, throw them in jail. And I've long, long said they are murdering citizens when they take away utilities, food and homes. People are going to freeze to death this winter. We are at the height of summer heat now and seems unthinkable but it will be below freezing by late November in Minneapolis-St. Paul where these bastards held their drunken orgy/convention this week. A few weeks later, it will be below zero.
Damn the Democrats if they don't do anything. With the take over of Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac, now is the time to stop foreclosures by putting an end to the predatory ballooning interest rates, but beyond that stop the cut off of utilities during the freezing weather, and give a helping hand to the American people instead of the corporations. Undoubtedly, one of the terms of nationalizing Freddie and Fannie is that their CEOs will be out but still receive their golden parachutes. They are criminals and instead, those parachutes (and their fortunes) should also be nationalized (to finance part of the aid to the people) and the criminals sent to prison. We don’t allow bank robbers to keep the money they stole.
Yeah, yeah! I know. Same thing as holding Bush and his gang of DC criminals accountable. Which is why I believe Pelosi, Reid and the Democratic cabal are as complicit as the Congressional Republicans. It is also the real reason why our founding fathers intended our government to have complete separation of powers between the three branches of our Federal government. Our damn Judicial Branch also won’t prosecute these criminals either.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...
my partner's fox-watching father is constantly harping on fears that the dems=socialism...can't wait to bust out Chris's line on him: Who would've guessed that Bush was such a fan of euro-socialism?
There is plenty of blame on all sides here.
thanks a lot Sarah Palin. just thanks so much for all you've done for women.
*don't overlook the comments on this post from Jezebel, they're the best part.*
http://jezebel.com/5046147/donny-deutsch-says-s...
The bailout is not without fleas. The difficulty with the bailout is that it appears that the feds are protecting top tier equity and debt holders that invested in these two publicly traded companies. These investors should be disclosed as should the current value of their debt and/or preferred shares so that the taxpayers know whose investments they are paying to save.
I understand that the fed allowed banks to hold preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so it would make sense to protect these holderrs. However, I also understand that China, Russia and certain soverign wealth funds are heavily invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares and debt. If this is the case, US taxpayers are bailing out Chine, Russia and other foreign wealth. That should play well in Wasilla.
With all that said, Americans need to get back to work so that they can serve their masters with tax flow to fund this grand plan.
This republican bailout is clear socialism and close to facism.
Are the Rethug Convention brown shirts chanting "Socialist, socialist"?
But, it's neosocialism, isn't it?
The redistribution of blame to the masses.
I have a mortgage. It belongs to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo sells it to Fed or Fran. I'm still paying Wells Fargo, though. Fed and Fran go under. As a taxpayer, I'm going to have to pay for them going under. But they went under holding my mortgage. So am I technially going to be paying my mortgage twice?
So Bush is a Social-eest?
Gangsters are capable of anything.