Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
October 13, 2008


Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s playing with our money in the hall?
I feel the need to get up on my political soapbox. So whether you agree with me or not, in the interest of our country and our collective futures just bear with me ok? I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m not even asking you to vote for ‘this one or that one’. I’m just going to throw out some information so that YOU can make an informed decision. This will make you sick

It’s been what……two weeks since the bailout went into effect. Has anyone looked up the definition of bailout?
The new name of it is the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Another term to go down into the history books.

There has been a whole lot of finger pointing going on in the world of politics the last couple of weeks. For those of you, who would rather stay in the dark, stop reading. I would never want to upset your political party's talking points and ruin your day. But for those who just enjoy history or want to understand how or why we got to this point in financial chaos read on. 1970 Freddie Mac was created by Democrats in Congress 57-43 Senate and 234-192 House.1977 the Community Reinvestment Act was passed by the Democratic Congress (61-39 Senate and 292-143 House) and signed into law by Jimmy Carter. It encouraged banks and mortgage lenders to loan money for housing to people who would not otherwise qualify (with Freddie and Fannie backing same by taking the paper).1995 President Clinton signed the executive order mandating lenders expand their lending for mortgages to sub-prime borrowers (that means people who would not qualify under any criteria in a sane world). Failure to do so would result in the lending institution not having access to federal funds or the quasi governmental Fannie and Freddie.1999 Republican Senator Phil Gramm pushed through congress deregulation laws (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) removing Depression era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities... (a really stupid move...in my humble, yet financially under educated opinion) The vote in the Senate was 98-1-1. McCain was the one who did not vote, another republican was the lone no vote. Biden and Harry Reid, who are now saying it's all Bush's fault, voted for the bill. Even Obama this week places the blamed on Gramm, but fails to mention that his running mate voted for it, and Clinton signed it into law.2003 President Bush tried to get congress to amend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules to disallow loans to people who would not qualify under normal lending institution rules for making loans. In other words, rescind the Clinton Executive order which had by now become the rules of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Democrats in the Senate (48) used the threat of filibuster to kill the bill (got to have that magic 60 in the Senate to stop a filibuster). George should have jumped up and down and yelled a little louder. Better yet he should have used stronger tactics and told the American people over and over and over again that we needed to watch these folks. Why weren’t we listening?2006 Greenspan testified before congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were both a house of cards and needed a lot more oversight and controls in case this country found itself in a recession in the future. That duty falls to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Democrat Chris Dodd is Chairman. He wasn't thrilled with Greenspan's advice, because he was the number one campaign money receiver from Fannie and Freddie over the years. Obama was number 2, and he raked his in two years.Now Dodd has gotten the 700 billion to bailout the house of cards, but he wants more oversight, which he had in the first place, but doesn't want to point his finger at himself for not doing his job, even when the whole mess is exposed.Every single piece of legislation the Republicans have put up to regulate the financial industry since 2000 has been killed in the Senate by Democrats. These folks have been living large with OUR hard earned tax dollars people! Its not their assets they are playing games with. Its Ours…yours….mine!95% of the homeowners are paying their monthly mortgage payments. It's those 5% that are facing foreclosure that are costing you and me, the sweet little hardworking middle class taxpayers, a trillion or so. Have you checked your 401K lately? Well don’t! You will fall on your knees in front of the great white throne and throw up! Your 401K is probably gone or greatly diminished. I hope your health is good because Boomers like me will be working as long as they can get to work and still do the job! But when the politicians start pointing fingers, watch closely. Notice they will not be near a mirror. Either they don’t want to see themselves or they have no reflection at all.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s the dumbest ones of all?
We, the middle class, are if we don’t get up off our assets and go vote on November 4!