Jeffrey A. Setaro

Political & Cultural Commentary from a Constitutional Conservative.

Freddie Mac

WSJ: Andrew Cuomo has more to answer for than does Bank of America

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Politicians love to blame the financial crisis and by extension the recession on greedy bankers, but as the Wall Street Journal notes today many of them, like New York Attorney General and former Clinton Administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo have much to answer for: With his fraud lawsuit last week against […]

Anatomy of a Crisis: The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Debacle

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Republican members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have released a report analyzing the role of the government sponsored enterprises (GSE), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in the housing meltdown. You can read the full report here, but here are the highlights: Political pressure led to the erosion of responsible lending practices: […]

David Kellermann, Freddie Mac’s Acting CFO Found Dead

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David Kellermann, the acting CFO of Freddie Mac was found dead at his suburban Washington home early Wednesday. From the Wall Street Journal: The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, David Kellermann, was found dead at his suburban Washington home early Wednesday. Officer Shelley Broderick of the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia said […]

What Caused The Finacial Crisis?

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A lot has been written about greed and mismanagement on Wall Street but that’s only half the story… Make no mistake greed and mismanagement played their part but so did government intervention and regulatory policy and that’s the largely untold story: Related Speaking of doom, what if Obama only makes it worse? – John Ibbitson, […]

WSJ: Congress Whitewashing Fannie and Freddie

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With all the buzz about the Feds corruption probe of Gov. Illinois Rod Blagojevich it’s easy for things like this Wall Street Journal column to be missed. Whitewashing Fannie Mae Congress begins its self-absolution campaign. Henry Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met Tuesday to examine “The Role of Fannie Mae and Freddie […]

Finally: McCain Blasts Obama, Democrats for Fannie/Freddie Meltdown

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Update: Scroll down for the video. It looks like the gloves are really off, John McCain is going to finally start talking about the economy and going after Barack Obama and Democrats for their roll in the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What […]

In Their Own Words: What They Said About Fannie & Freddie

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The Wall Street Journal has a long history over covering the abuses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today  they’re naming names and calling out the Democrats who helped cause our financial crisis. House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003: Rep. Gregory Meeks, (D., N.Y.): . . . I am just pissed off at […]

Flamethrower: Thaddeus McCotter

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It’s pure unadulterated demagoguery but it’s still a hell of speech! With all due respect Congressman Wall Street didn’t cause this problem… They played their part but it was Congress and government regulators who, in the name of affordable housing, compelled banks to write these risky sub-prime loans. It was Congress who created Fannie Mae […]

Video: Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

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This video has been floating around the web for a couple of days… It provides a detailed look at how the Community Reinvestment Act was used to push banks into sub-prime mortgages and how that distorted the housing market… And helped create the bubble that burst. A couple of caveats though… First it lays the […]