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Originally Posted by randolph
Re: Tracy's post Bush warnings
The repeated requests by Bush to do something is not surprising. If Bush could get congress, to do something and we got a recession then Bush could blame Congress.
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Congress (mostly dems) repeatedly said that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were financially sound. I have posted videos of this. You can see it from their own lips. We now know this to be completely false. Bush had been warning congress about it throughout his 2 terms. He had been asking congress to regulate the financial institutions, which we now know they needed. Leave the spin out and let's just deal with the facts. Otherwise we'll be saying "Is too" "Is not" "Is too" "Is not" for all eternity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randolph
Also, Congress did not want to do anything for the same reason.
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This is why they didn't want to do anything about Freddie & Fannie:
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Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008
Name Office Party/State Total
1. Dodd, Christopher J S D-CT $133,900
2. Kerry, John S D-MA $111,000
3. Obama, Barack S D-IL $105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary S D-NY $75,550
5. Kanjorski, Paul E H D-PA $65,500
6. Bennett, Robert F S R-UT $61,499
7. Johnson, Tim S D-SD $61,000
8. Conrad, Kent S D-ND $58,991
9. Davis, Tom H R-VA $55,499
10. Bond, Christopher S S R-MO $55,400
11. Bachus, Spencer H R-AL $55,300
12. Shelby, Richard C S R-AL $55,000
13. Emanuel, Rahm H D-IL $51,750
14. Reed, Jack S D-RI $50,750
15. Carper, Tom S D-DE $44,389
16. Frank, Barney H D-MA $40,100
17. Maloney, Carolyn B H D-NY $38,750
18. Bean, Melissa H D-IL $37,249
19. Blunt, Roy H R-MO $36,500
20. Pryce, Deborah H R-OH $34,750
21. Miller, Gary H R-CA $33,000
22. Pelosi, Nancy H D-CA $32,750
23. Reynolds, Tom H R-NY $32,700
24. Hoyer, Steny H H D-MD $30,500
25. Hooley, Darlene H D-OR $28,750
These are total contributions made from 1989-2008. Interesting isn't it how Obama worked his way up to the number 3 spot (Hilary's up there too) on Freddie and Fannie campaign contributions after, what 2 years in congress? Near where others have been in office for 20+ years. Things that make you go hmmmmm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randolph
The Bush sequence of warnings shows that the Bush administration was aware that things were going wrong for years and did nothing.
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What can Bush do? He can only ask congress to act.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randolph
Bush did not need Congress to do something, the Treasury and the Fed could have done something to calm down the financial system.
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With what money? Doesn't that come from congress?
Quote:
Originally Posted by randolph
Greenspan could have simply raised interest rates to calm things down. The extremely low rates produced and excess of liquidity that the financial markets had to deal with, which resulted in the abuses that led to the meltdown. The booming housing market and stock market were good for Bush and helped compensate for the bad news from Iraq and his low ratings.  |
Yes, Greenspan could have raised interest rates. He liked to make his presidents look good and did so for both Clinton and Bush. Even with higher interest rates, the CRA required Freddie and Fannie to make loans available to minorities who couldn't afford them. But yes, it might have at least caused these people requesting loans to rethink if that was wise.