Edwards Tackles Katrina Flap (sets up charitable org for subprime investments)

[rodeodance]

Source: wsj

Edwards Tackles Katrina Flap
Candidate Seeks to Help Victims,
Redirects Subprime Investments
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
September 14, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, whose personal investments have been linked to foreclosure suits filed against three dozen victims of Hurricane Katrina, has set up a charitable organization to help the homeowners.

His campaign said Mr. Edwards had also redirected the investments, a $16 million stake in Fortress Investment Group LLC, within the private-equity company to ensure they no longer had ties to its subprime-mortgage businesses.

The Louisiana Home Rescue Fund will be seeded with $100,000 -- much of which will come from Mr. Edwards's own pocket, the campaign said, without specifying an amount.

The program will be administered by the nonprofit ACORN Housing Corp., and will provide loans and grants to 34 families in the New Orleans area whose homes were seized or are in danger of foreclosure following the August 2005 hurricane.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118973017623027209.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

---

thanks John

[BrklynLiberal]

1. John Edwards...............

:loveya:

[Baby Snooks]

2. You must be joking...

He is offering a little less than $3,000 to 34 homeowners who lost their homes to possible fraud committed by subprime lenders associated with a private equity firm he has a major investment in? Why?

Maybe to divert attention from the question of how much profit he made off that possible fraud? And will continue to?

Redirecting investments within a company that continues to engage in subprime lending sounds a little odd. Sort of like redirecting your investment in Halliburton by telling Halliburton that your investment is to be kept separate from Halliburton's contractual business in Iraq?

Does he really think we are all that stupid?

"...and Green Tree Servicing LLC, of St. Paul, Minn. Fortress, which employed Mr. Edwards part time for about a year ending in late 2006 at an annual salary of nearly $500,000..."

Did he also return the nearly $500,000 salary? Instead of funding this public relations venture with $100,000, he should have funded it with that nearly $500,000 he was paid as a consultant to one of these subprime lenders he now says he does not wish to be associated with.

Again, does he really think we are all that stupid?

[Purveyor]

4. If true, and with another projected 2 mil homes due to go into foreclosure in 2008,

Edwards is 'toast'. The thiry second 'sound-bite' ads will eat him up...

Most think that Iraq will drive the 2008 vote. WRONG! It will again be the 'economy stupid'...

As I watched bush tonight, I wonder how many households that are struggling to meet mortgage payments or facing foreclosure really gave a damn about Iraq.

I'm sure they thought "when is the president going to address the nation, in primetime, about my pending home foreclosure, layoff, lack of health insurance, high fuel costs, skyrocketing grocery bills, etc..."

[Mnpaul]

6. You really should read the article

What about "He said fund managers determined that Mr. Edwards had no direct stake in Green Tree." don't you understand?

[JDPriestly]

9. Fortress is by no means exceptional with regard to its investment

in companies that provided sub-prime loans.
Lots of investment companies were involved in those loans. Don't get on such a high horse about this. The underlying problems were an are stagnant wages and skyrocketing housing prices. The problem is that the rich are flush -- too flush -- with money to invest, and the poor have to little money to live on. Republican economics creates this kind of imbalance over and over. Remember Hoover. He was not the only "free market" true believe to leave a devastated economy in his wake. Don't blame this on Edwards, on Green Tree or anyone except the Bushies. Starting with Reaganomics, our economy has been sliding down a very dangerous slope. Who knows where we will land?

Fidelity's money market was invested in Countrywide and its affiliates to a noticeable although perhaps not shocking extent. You would be surprised at what funds were involved. Sub-prime mortgages were not illegal. No more than the dot.com investment fever of the late '90s. It was just one aspect of yet another bubble. The problem is that people so naively believe in the get rich quick dream. Sorry, guys, get-rich-quick does happen, but rarely.

[1932]

10. Furthermore, it was the packaging of mortgages as securities and the spreading of risk so broadcly

that was the main change to the mortgage industry that made companies take on more risk.

THE SPREADING OF RISK.

I would not be surprised very investment company had an investment in a subprime lender.

[brentspeak]

13. That's funny -- your comments are EXACTLY what Monica (s)Crowley was saying about it

She's a conservative talking head who I heard spouting off about Edwards over a radio. "Does he really think we are all that stupid?" was uttered by her over-and-over.

[salib]

3. This is counterproductive.

I know, it is "for a good cause." It is also a good thing for an individual to do.

However, it just reinforces the point that Government of "we the people" are ineffectual and only "private interests" can get anything done.

And, yes, there is an alternative. Again, it must be We the People, not big money, big celebrity, big anything. PERIOD.

[1932]

7. Don't you think he's showing people what he would do as president? This is what he cares about.

He's willing to put his money into this. He's willing to run for president and take a lot of shit from people who don't want him to be president because he wants to do more to help people than just by using his own money.

How in the world can anyone honestly say this is counterproductive?

[FrenchieCat]

5. John Edwards likes to set up "foundations" everytime he

needs to get some PR blowing in the direction he wants. 34 people is like 34 needles in a haystack of millions..........too little, way too late. Had he divested his 16 million from the Hedgefund Fortress in May of this year when he first found out about the subprime connection, it might have been effective. Doing so in September after the bad press continues to hound him since May shows that he is acting for the sake of his candidacy.

[1932]

8. If that PR is going to make him president and he does more things like this as president....

....then good for him.

[Baby Snooks]

11. He didn't divest...

He didn't divest. He "redirected." Whatever that means. Sorry but it is sort of like Robin Hood stealing a cake from the poor and giving to the rich and giving a crumb back to the poor.

How could he not know what these two companies were engaged in? They are part of this equity fund, they are, in essence, assets of the fund, and he was a paid consultant for one of them. He was paid "nearly $500,000." If he was paid $500,000 and feels the companies took advantage of these people and now wants to help them, well, then he should give the $500,000 to the fund. Not $100,000. That is stealing a cake and giving back a crumb.

But he's so cute. And he talks so cute. And Elizabeth is so nice. She has cancer you know. And is still campaigning. Tugs at your heart, you know? And that mean Ann Coulter. Why, we should vote for him just to get back at her. Oy vey. So many reasons to vote for John Edwards. They go on and on and on. But there are also reasons not to vote for him. And this is one of them.

Ask those 34 people what they think of Edwards once they realize he owns part of their mortgage they can no longer pay because someone didn't explain what an ARM really was or what a balloon really was or did, in a sort of, kind of way and then just outright lied and said their interest rate would never go up or and that it was just a standard clause in all contracts or didn't tell them, although they claim now they did, that the terms were changed and made sure no one pointed that out at the closing table when they signed everything. The list of things these lenders told people goes on and on and on as well. Anything to get them to sign on the dotted line so they could collect their commission. They and the realtors. Who do you think was showing these people these houses?

And Alan Greenspan who sort of, kind of admitted he knew but didn't think it was really going to cause a problem for the economy itself. Meaning the economy of the rich. Screw the poor. The poor, after all, are there to make the rich even richer. Probably what John Edwards thought as well. Again, he didn't divest. He "redirected." And only after questions were raised and fingers were pointed. He acts dumb. But he was a paid consultant at one of the companies. Sounds to me like Edwards studied PT Barnum and mastered the art of suckering people. Especially at the polls.

After all, what's a foreclosure here and there? For some, just more money to be made off the same house a year or two later. Particularly in this market with prices going through the roof. No one thought about the floor collapsing. The floor collapsed.

Looks like we're headed for another "lesser of the evils" at the polls again during the primary.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.