How Democrats Destroyed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Ace explains: How They Built the Bomb
The Men Who Built the Bomb: ... are all working as advisers to Obama now.
Penny Pritzker, "the Michael Milken of subprime mortgages," is Obama's Finance Chair.
Jim Johnson, disgraced former CEO of Fannie, was Obama's vice presidential search chairman, at least until he resigned under fire due to his role in providing subsidized sweetheart loans to Democratic Senators during his stint at CountryWide.
Franklin Raines, who participated in the accounting scandals to fix Fannie's books and deliver unwarranted bonuses to its top executives, is a top Obama adviser. Corrupt "Community Organizer" organization ACORN, an institutional ally of Barack Obama, lobbied Freddie and Fannie to extend even more risky loans to credit-poor borrowers in the interest of ending "racial redlining." But they didn't end "racial redlining." What they ended was any credit-checking at all, as subprime mortgage providers simply stopped verifying self-reported claims of income and in fact ended even the most basic prudential element of a mortgage -- the down payment.
"Fannie Mae is proud to work with ACORN Housing, " said Thomas Collins, Director, Single Family Business, and Fannie Mae. By working with ACORN and lenders like Citibank, we can support their efforts to expand homeownership opportunities for underserved communities at affordable price points achieve sustainable homeownership."
In this same speech, Collins referred to, Obama, and other members of the Black Congressional Caucus which had worked so diligently to craft the time bomb that would ultimately destroy two key segments of the American economy (both housing/home construction and the financial sectors), members of "the family."
Obama Economics Adviser Austan Goolsbee continued defending and lobbying on behalf of the mortgage industry's no-money-down-no-credit-check policies at least until September of 2007.
McCain on Offense: The election turns on getting this message out. The pubic, wrongly in this instance, assumes that any Wall Street scandal is the fault of Republicans. If that assumption is permitted to stand, we lose the election.
. . . .
In the upcoming debate, McCain must read aloud from a sheet of paper his plan for fixing and averting the mortgage crisis by regulating Fannie and Freddie and other subprime lenders.
Then he should set the paper down. And announce those remarks are from a speech from 2005.
And that Democrats blocked his proposal.
Your risk, their reward. You put the money into their corrupt pockets which they then in turn donated to Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and Barack Obama, who in turn dutifully kept the gravy train chugging along.
Congress Adjourning! Harry Reid admits he has no idea what to do. So he's packing it up, leaving yet another crisis on the table for more responsible people to figure out.
Actually, Harry Reid and the Democrats always knew what to do. They knew the problem was this trillion dollar giveaway to credit-poor homebuyers. They further knew that by making money for homes so cheap and so artificially plentiful, they were driving up the cost of homes to astronomical levels. That's the way it works -- the more cheap, devalued dollars chasing after goods, the more the good rise in price.
Ultimately people who were simply not credit-worthy enough to buy houses at all were not merely buying houses -- they were buying houses that were well beyond their means to purchase even in a normal market, but furthermore, were inflated in price to double their fair value. So ultimately these legions of bad-credit-risks found themselves paying mortgages valued at 150% or 200% or even more of what their actual homes were worth.
So what did they do? They did what anyone would do: They walked away from the mortgages.
They both hyperinflated the housing market and created the bubble, and put the American taxpayer on the hook for all the excesses they created. And would not check -- because they were too busy appeasing ACORN and taking money from Fannie, Freddie, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Raines, Johnson, and Pritzker.
They created the housing bubble. They created the financial meltdown -- which occurred, inevitably, when the bubble burst.
And now they want to go home.
And they should. We don't need any more of this sort of wisdom.
I don't believe the federal government should be in the home mortgage business at all. The private sector is almost always better at these things.
Banks and insurance companies have been so heavily regulated for so long (for reasons that seemed benign at the outset) that much of the industry is a government-created mess, with normal market incentives distorted beyond recognition. One government-created problem begets the next one.
But most Democrats do believe the federal government should be in the mortgage business with programs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is those Democrats in Congress who are responsible for shooting down John McCain's bill that could have headed off this very crisis.
Democrats, including Barack Obama, need to be held accountable for their bad judgment on this issue and others. If not, the latest crisis will be but one of many.

Free Disney park on your Birthday

Having a cute daughter of 7 and littel boy who is jsut 28 week, i thought this is a great offer when i have seen it...

Disney offering free admission on birthday in 2009
By BETH J. HARPAZ
AP Travel Editor
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

NEW YORK — Walt Disney Parks and Resorts announced a new promotion to admit visitors free on their birthdays next year.
“Every guest gets in free to one of our parks on their birthday in 2009,” Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said at a news conference in Manhattan.

Visitors will have to show valid identification and proof of birthdate to qualify. Details are available at www.disneyparks.com, where birthday visits can be registered in advance.
Mike Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, said admitting guests free to the parks on their birthdays could very well make money.
“The only thing they lose is the revenue from those people whose birthdays it is who might have come anyway,” he said. “Having an extra customer in the park doesn’t cost them anything. Those people are still a benefit because they have to buy food and drinks, and their friends and family are accompanying them.”
The birthday offer is part of a larger Disney promotion announced Thursday called “What will you celebrate?” It includes a 30-city tour with public events featuring Disney costumed characters, beginning in Minneapolis on Sept. 25 and ending in Phoenix in February. Disney will also start running “What will you celebrate?” TV ads featuring kids blowing out candles and brides in limousines.
In addition, the parks will offer buttons to wear that identify guests with phrases such as “Just Married,” “Just Graduated,” and “First Visit.”
“Our goal is to mark the special moments in your life in a way that your family will remember forever,” Rasulo said.
Peter Yesawich, a consultant on lifestyle trends, said at the Disney news conference that Americans often arrange vacations around personal milestones such as anniversaries and birthdays. He called the phenomenon “celebration vacations.”

What is Obama thinking?

I was reading CNN today, and i read this article....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/19/campaign.wrap/index.html#cnnSTCText
Has any one noted what i had noted?
After meeting with his economic advisors, Obama said his team would not present a detailed economic plan at this time, "given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke."

Obama said he would not present his plan until the Treasury and Federal Reserve have presented theirs.
Iam starting to believe McCains statement that "Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election". What type of game is this. Do he really have any plan? and if he has, why dont he present it. The only time i hide something from my co-worker is when either i dont have nothing to show or i want to play credit game, where i want to get the credit of being the best idea...

That's shallow.. Anybody... Are you finding any other logical reason behind, why he need to hide.. If i were him, i will do what ever I can help country. What is more important? Nation or Election? You decide...

Swdeshi Movement and Hurricane Ike - Keep the Dollar within country

As the people in Texas and surrounding areas rebuild their lives after Hurricane Ike, I wonder how many of them realize they have a unique opportunity to help rebuild America at the same time.

They have the opportunity to help themselves, their children, their sisters and brothers, their friends, their neighbors and virtually every American worker.

They can help as they buy new clothing, home furnishings, household appliances, home repair items, toys for their children, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks or whatever their purchases might be.

The unique opportunity is: Make the right choice and buy American-made products from American companies and help keep Americans working.

So not only, Oil the one place where we want to break our dependancy on Foreign nations, but also for other items that we are not looking as significant.

Benefit 1: The Economy
The Economy - by spending money to buy American made products from American company, keeps the money in the country instead of draining it out to China. The way i think, its going on since few years is - you spend your $ on china made items, keeping some profit aside, that $ is going to China... and than China is giving US the same $ as loan... So why we cant keep our $ in our country.

Since last few years, there is continous increse in gap between goods/ services we export vs. we import... we are importing more and more and that is the problem.
This reminds very old strategy used while fighting for independance against british by Ghandhiji...

Swadeshi movement / Self-sufficiency: (Hindi: स्वदेशी) This movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was a successful economic strategy to remove the British Empire from power and improve economic conditions in India through following principles of swadeshi (self-sufficiency). Strategies of the swadeshi movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic-made products and production techniques. Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Mahatma Gandhi who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self rule).

If back then India can think and use this strategy, I guess, technically sound nation like US can do this very easily...

Benefit 2 - The Budget Deficit
Working Americans pay local, state and federal taxes.
Our tax dollars are used for many things, but they also go to work in times such as this, to provide a multitude of services way too broad to list, in areas damaged by Hurricane Ike.

The United States government is much like a household. It needs money coming in to provide not only the services we often take for granted, but also to provide aid during times of natural disasters.

And both of these are the power that runs the Engine of local economy which is slowing down.

Barack Obama interviewed by Bill O'Reilly - All here

Since i have learned how to embed you tube videos - i thought it makes sense to give single place for the interview chain for any one who wants to see it as whole. so here it is:
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Putting lipstick on a pig

Barack Obama is quoted to say, “You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
Republican Claims
The problem according to the McCain people, is that it was too close to Sarah Palin’s stump speech phrase, “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
As a result, the McCain campaign is saying that Obama called Palin a pig. And they went hog-wild in responding to the alleged smear. “Ultimately, I think the American people will realize that calling a very prominent female governor of one of our states a pig is not exactly what we want to see when we supposedly are going to have this great debate that is the politics of hope,” they say. And they have put together campaign add immediately :

Barack's people responded
"Enough is enough. The McCain campaign’s attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy – the same analogy that Senator McCain himself used about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan just last year. This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run."

My Take
I agree with Barack's camp on one thing. Any one who has seen complete speech and not only campaign add put together by McCain camp will also agree with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPd4yk0x-eg
This is common analogy. Here is somethign i have found in book of knowledge:
A term used by many, generally in reference to someone who may be trying to make something or someone look appealing or attractive when it quite clearly will not work, or will only deceive the dumbest of people. Car salesmen are generally good at "putting lipstick on a pig" because they are always selling unroadworthy buckets of shit and try and hide their shitfulness by tarting them up. Example: The dude in that car yard just put a body kit on that piece of shit. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig

Where I Disagree
Where I disagree with Barack's camp is, the argument that Sen. McCain has used the same for Hillary's healthcare plan and Hillary had not used lipstick in her speech. And if I put myself in shoes (Or Sandles) of Democrate faminist groups it definitely has sexism touch, though that is not how i think myself.
What i believe is that Barack is not fool, unless I am wrong about him, to use this cheap shot and loose his credibility as different candidate. Which I think day by day more and more people thinks he is not.
Second traditionally, VP candidates are for attacking opponent President and VP candidates and not President hopeful normally does attacking. Where Barack proved surprisingly he is different candidate, he has used his acceptance speech more to attack Sen. McCain and President Bush in absence of VP candidate, more than Biden did in his speech.
Keeping this issue aside, in my mind he is making bigger mistake of attacking Gov. Sarah Palin himself, because by doing so he is actually raising her at his level. And that is helping McCain - Palin camp more than anything else.