Another risk for our gov't budget - mortgage lending

[Target_For_Exterm]

I remember reading an article a while back that funding for FannieMae and FreddieMac was a risk for our budget. Well, yeah - when their executives are crooked and bilking the company! Is there ANYTHING associated with our government right now that isn't corrupt?

"WASHINGTON - Fannie Mae erased $6.3 billion in profit in a long-awaited restatement Wednesday capping the accounting scandal that stunned financial markets and brought the ouster of top executives and a record fine against the government-sponsored mortgage leader.

The correction of its earnings from 2001 through June 30, 2004, ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission two years ago, was well below Fannie Mae's earlier estimate of $10.8 billion. The reworking of its accounting is costing the company some $1 billion this year to conduct. It is the first earnings statement filed by Fannie Mae, which finances one of every five home loans in the United States, since late 2004.

The scandal erupted in the fall of that year when federal regulators accused Washington-based Fannie Mae — with its long-standing prestige, vaunted political clout and reputation for financial excellence — of serious accounting problems and earnings manipulation to meet Wall Street targets."

--snip

I especially like this part:

"Its chief executive, Daniel Mudd, received a pay package of $13.1 million, including a $2.6 million bonus, for 2005, the company also disclosed in an SEC filing. Mudd, who was the top operations official at the time of the accounting misdeeds, was elevated to the top position in a management shakeup in December 2004."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_bi_ge/fannie_mae

If Bush succeeds in destroying the economy and forclosure rates REALLY increase, then I forsee another government bailout of mismanaged companies in the offing. But no worries - they're Bush cronies!