Friday, April 8, 2005
Snow urges Congress to rein in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Administration supports tighter regulation after recent accounting irregularities.
By MARCY GORDON
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary John Snow urged Congress to restrain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving the Bush administration's blessing to efforts to create a new regulator with broad power over the huge mortgage companies.
Recent accounting scandals at the two biggest U.S. buyers of home mortgages - expected to result in an $11 billion restatement of earnings in No. 1 Fannie Mae's case - have heightened the administration's concern that they pose a potential risk to U.S. financial markets if they fail, Snow told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

With a legislative push under way, driven by Republicans in Congress, to strengthen the government's hand over the two companies, Snow's comments opened a partisan breach among senators.

Because so many big financial institutions hold large amounts of the $1.8 trillion in debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a crisis at or failure of either could ripple through the markets, he said. Congress created the two companies to inject money into the home-loan market, keeping mortgage rates lower. They buy mortgages from lenders and bundle the loans into securities for sale to investors worldwide.

Snow's remarks came a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, appearing before the same Senate panel, called for limiting the combined $1.5 trillion portfolios of the government-sponsored companies.

The recent troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed" by the companies, Snow said. He said the problems further highlight the need for a new regulatory regime "to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding" for homebuyers.

The statements by Greenspan and Snow lent support to a new effort by Republican lawmakers to tighten controls on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which hold or guarantee more than 45 percent of all mortgage loans in the country. Legislation recently proposed would set up a regulatory agency with the power to compel the companies to sell off any assets deemed not to be in line with their mission of making homeownership more widely available.

The remarks by the President George W. Bush's top economic official brought a rebuke from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who accused the administration of trying to "virtually eliminate" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and using their recent accounting lapses as a pretext for doing so.

"We ought to proceed with a great deal of caution and maybe some humility," Schumer said. Other Democrats on the panel echoed his view.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/sectio...cle_473273.php

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Poor Spot! He was tired of being thought of as stupid. "I'm gonna join Mensa," he said to myself, "and then I'll be legally permitted to wear the society's insignia--a tattoo of a little map pin pushed into my flesh--and then everyone'll know that I'm not dumb at all!"
Spot Joins Mensa
by James "Kibo" Parry

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why did the republicans not do something when they had the entire gov in their control?

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"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment." -Bertrand Russell

Lol. Please. Now you're just being silly.

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Poor Spot! He was tired of being thought of as stupid. "I'm gonna join Mensa," he said to myself, "and then I'll be legally permitted to wear the society's insignia--a tattoo of a little map pin pushed into my flesh--and then everyone'll know that I'm not dumb at all!"
Spot Joins Mensa
by James "Kibo" Parry

With the truth hitting you in the face from all sides, are you really gonna open you mind to the fact that this debacle is the result of Barney Frank and Banking Committee Democrats? I doubt it very much....

Publication: Community Banker
Date: Saturday, November 1 2003

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the committees ranking Democrat, announced that many committee Democrats would not support language tightening HUD's review of GSE programs. Other groups supported this position, including the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors. FM Policy Focus, an organization representing competing secondary market companies, was opposed to the entire bill because the language didn't go far enough to restrain Freddie and Fannie.

Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.), chairman of the House Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee, said the blame for the postponement "falls squarely on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." He said lobbyists for both companies "swarmed the Hill with document after document designed to gut all meaningful reform out of legislative consideration."

The committee markup would have been substituted for H.R. 2575, the reform bill introduced previously by Baker.

GSE reform shifts to Senate Banking Committee | Banking & Finance > Banking & Finance Overview from AllBusiness.com

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Biden was asked, 'Is he ready?' He answered, 'I think he can be ready but right now, I don't believe he is.
The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.'
"I think that I stand by the statement," Biden (the smartest of the two)

The SEC and every economist worth their salt disagrees with you and the White House.

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"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment." -Bertrand Russell

Give it up... TM is not even worth responding to anymore... he/she is almost as bad as jillian and sealybooboo.

Are you saying the SEC is lying?

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"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment." -Bertrand Russell

SEC couldn't even tell in the 1990s if Enron was lying. How can we believe them today. They are the barrons of Wall Street.

Ah yes, Olympia Snow once again proves to be one of the most sensible REAL Republicans this nation is still blessed with.

I really must congratulate myself for having voted for her last time around.