GOP plot to destroy Fannie Mae

[jonpaulprime]

This may seem like a nutty conspiracy theory but there's a paper trail on this going way, way back: [link:

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[JDPriestly]

1. It's a bit simplistic because it focuses pretty much only on Fannie Mae and not on other

things like the Bush administration's push to cover up a bad economy by goosing the economy through the Fed and the increased pressure on the economy caused by Bush's tax cuts for the rich, Katrina and the wars fought on borrowed money, but it is a good analysis of the assault on Fannie Mae.

I like the fact that he explains economic cause and effect with regard to the investigation into Fannie Mae and the failure to slowly unwind and correct Fannie Mae's problems. When you investigate a situation you believe is scandalous, you need to do it, but in a manner that protects the economy. It is very harmful to throw a lot of rumor and innuendo out there which is what Republicans did with regard to Fannie Mae without offering solutions that will protect the economy.

It's as though you found three people with the plague, so you killed everyone living within a ten-mile-radius of their homes. The plague doesn't spread, but a lot of people die unnecessarily. Better to isolate and treat the plague victims than to kill a lot of people who don't need to be killed.

[jonpaulprime]

2. Well

Fannie is used as a scapegoat to this very day. I focused on Fannie because it is a HUGE part of the fictional Republican "narrative" of why our economy started going down the tubes circa 07-08. I also touched upon the much maligned CRA (community reinvestment act) that is likewise used in most GOP narratives as a way of blaming Democrats for the eventual housing crash.

But once the public perception of Fannie had been damaged, the damage was very much done and the dominoes slowly began to fall. And nobody noticed til the domino hit Bear Sterns, and then everyone noticed with great alarm.

[JDPriestly]

3. Yes. I agree. Fannie should have been bailed out, not the big banks.

Had homeowners received help, then the banks would have been left with their gambling losses, but the economy as a whole would have fared better.

I agree that Fannie Mae has been the Republican scapegoat. I also think that the underlying structural problems have not been addressed, not by any means.

I like your video.

[jonpaulprime]

5. pretty much

there was literally enough tarp money allocated to get EVERY SINGLE HOME in the U.S. out of foreclosure (certainly every home owing less than a million dollars)

But nope. Instead they bailed out the banks that keep foreclosing on folks.

thanks!

[JDPriestly]

4. Do you remember Bush's State of the Union address, the one in which he

claimed that now everyone could buy a house whether they had any money or not?

That was during his "ownership society" mania.

You might get some additional material from there that backs up your ideas.