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Name:	SPEARFISHER -	Reply
Subject:	The Sad Truth Continues
Date:	9/26/2008 11:26:39 AM

By STEVEN A. HOLMES (New York Times)

Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer (and current Obama advisor) . ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/26/2008 1:35:56 PM

Amazing details emerging about the Democrat leadership plans for bailing us out of this mess. For example, 20% of the funds go to a community organizing outfit called ACORN. ACORN has been investigated, charged and convicted of voter fraud in numerous parts of the country. Also, there is no provision for the government paying "fair market value" for what they acquire. What this opens up is sweetheart deals for favored recipients. It also includes requirements that only green projects can be funded. For example, if you want to build an office building it will have to meet "green" requirements, which is an artificial financial constraint.

I have to admit I was confused why no deal could be done without broad bipartisan support. Dems control both houses and had Bush on their side so they could pass whatever they wanted. It is apparent that they want political cover for the plan which is in my view wildly flawed. When the you-know-what hits the fan as details of this plan emerges they want cover. The fact is they can do this without Republicans but are afraid to do so.

Name:	Swimmer27 -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/26/2008 5:08:12 PM

One thing is for certain, if the dems had even ONE republican that they could possibly hang this on, there would be hearings going on right now. They would have started investigating two weeks ago. But sincie it all traces back to democrats you've not heard one word about any house or senate hearings.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/26/2008 10:49:05 PM

I have a bad feeling that so much of this is being played out for political reasons.
I can't understand why they have to play partisan politics is this is a true crisis. My feeling is that when something really needs to be done, it shouldn't matter who gets the credit. We're all Americans.

Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/27/2008 8:13:50 AM

I agree with that. This is a serious issue and if it is not done we will see an economic collapse so severe that it will make the great depression look like a little slowdown.

I do a lot of business with SunTrust bank and was on a conference call earlier this week ... they told me that 1 month treasuries at one point was at a negative 1/2 percent. You had to pay the feds to take your money. There was such panic and flight to quality the rate moved negative.

Name:	want2beonlake -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/27/2008 9:18:13 AM

Water-watcher, question for you since you deal with SunTrust as we are in the middle of refi of our homes and I was talking with mortgage guy yesterday.

Are you finding this to be the case? the guy I was talking to said the bailout is a two fold issue - the banks and the bad loans as one part and the issues with Wall Street as another part.

Some of the banks, in their takeovers of other banks also assumed the bad debt associated with those banks and the bailout would essentially allow them to have the govt take over the bad debt and the good debt stay with the banks. From what I have read, those people with the bad debt would have to essentially requalify and those that can meet their obligations would be fine but those who are over-extended and unable to requalify would essentially be SOL.

with Wall Street, sorry but not clear on the issue with them unless it is the speculative nature of the trades and the fact that it appears they were making trades without the funds to back up the trades.

I am totally against the golden parachutes - despise the fact that someone can do a bad job and walk away with millions.

The other issue I heard that is holding this up, in part, is the power given Paulson and the fact that he came from the Wall Street side and not the banking side so the worry is he will protect his cronies in that the proposal gives him unfettered authority to give what he wants, to whom he wants, with how much he wants without any oversights or judicial review.

Not attacking your post in any way - just wanting to have some understanding of the bailout issues.

Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	The great great depression
Date:	9/27/2008 10:43:35 AM

First I deal with SunTrust capital markets with bond financing backed by letters of credit and rate swaps with counter parties to fix interest rates for 20-30 years. I just recently locked $20 million of tax exempt bonds at 2.97% using a rate swap at 67% of LIBOR for 25 years.

Depends on what you are calling "wall street". This problem has been compounded by accounting rules under S-OXS to mark to market. As defaults started to happen on bad loans, financial institutions had to start writing down those loans. The ability to sell those loans to raise liquidity dried up causing further mark downs. This started to spread in to good loans that people were paying on, but since there was not a "market" to sell them, they had to be marked down. This started to freeze up the mortgage market even for excellent credit. So the value of those loans had to keep being written down.

Bank regulations require a certain debt to capital ratios. As the write down continued then needed infusion of capital to meet the requirements. Even though the feds had made credit facilities available, it was not the capital that the banks needed so they were in default and started to be taken over by the feds, closed or sold off.

The bailout package allows the feds to buy those marked down loans at the depressed levels which takes them off the banks books and gives the banks the capital and liquidity they need. The feeling is when they start to buy them it established a market and others will step in to start buying them too. They are not all bad loans so the feds should be able to resell them in the open market at a later date at a significant profit. This will not all be on the backs of tax payers .... in fact the feds may make money on this.

The resistence you hear on the republicans parts is they want to address a fix to the problem ... including revising the mark to market rules under S-OXS. But instead the dems want to pile on more give away programs that does not fix the underlining problem. Don't forget the republicans proposed a bill in 2006 to try and fix the hand writing on the wall and the dem congress laughed and shot it down.

So the reference to wall street is because the market will fall another 2,000 to 3,000 points, maybe worse if this bailout is not approved. That will hurt everyone. there will be bank failures and runs on banks like 1929 and business as we know it today will not be able to function. That will lead to mass layoffs and plant closings. Not just because of high unemployment, but there will not be capital to lend so people will not buy and will just keep adding to the problem. It is predicted that banks will just start closing credit card accounts to protect themselves.

Without some bailout, we could easily surpass the 30% unemployment of the great depression.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/27/2008 11:17:06 AM

Have you been reading about what happened in the White House meeting? Apparently Bush turned the meeting over to Harry Reid who then turned it over to Obama who then launched into an attack on the Republican concerns over the bailout program. Then it devolved into a partisan fight. Treasury Sec Paulsen had given Obama a copy of the Republicans views and objections and instead of looking for a bipartisan solution he went on the attack. Apparently McCain said very little in the meeting.

This does not bode well and it gets me to thinking that when Obama talks about change, what he really means is doing things his way. This is not the work of a change agent and frankly reinforces for me that his liberal othodoxy will be on full display if he gets to the White House. I am afraid that what Americans want in terms of change (for Washington to work) is not what Obama is planning to do and they are being mislead. This was a real opportunity for him and he didn't take advantage of it. Frankly, neither did McCain.

I agree with the statement that we are all Americans. I have read and heard Republican concerns with the bailout bill and they seem so reasonable and common sensical that it boggles the mind that Bush and Democrats are aligned against Republicans in Congress. Strange bedfellows indeed given their desire to attach every Republican candidate to an unpopular President. We live in interesting and strange times.

Name:	rude evin -	Reply
Subject:	The Sad Truth Continues
Date:	9/27/2008 11:54:03 AM

From my standpoint, I'm looking to identify who the adults are in this struggle and how they perform .........and I don't think I'm alone in this either............the polls will not pick up on these silent observations being made by the sober voter as we move toward election day. A funny anecdote I heard this am from a friend...........he got a poll phone call the other night and the "qualifiying" question that was asked first was his age........70 was his reply........" thank you for your time" was the ending comment............!?

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/28/2008 8:04:49 AM

Where did you read about this meeting. I have been wondering about it. I assumed that they had just gotten some sort of executive briefing on the situation.
If what you say is true, it's really disappointing.

Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	Scare tactics
Date:	9/28/2008 9:57:38 AM

Just a video of Barney Frank from 2003 - head of the banking committee (and the guy that was caught soliciting sex from male pages). He was asked about Fannie and Freddie and he was saying they are very secure and there are no problems .... it was just "scare tactics" of the republicans.

Then when McCain co-sponsored a bill to better regulate these entities, Frank and Rangle blocked it on the basis it was just a way for republicans to deny housing to the poor and minorities. No gentlemen, it was to deny mortgages to those that could not afford to pay them back to prevent what just happened.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Bailout insanity
Date:	9/28/2008 9:51:02 PM

Details were on several websites but may be down with all the new developments. Try a google search using White House bailout meeting contentious. It may still be in archives.

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