Ada vs. Wall Street

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  • Posted By: Yankee2008 @ 10/02/2008 5:29:51 AM

    The US Government should not use tax payers money to bailout Corrupt members on Wall Street and those in our government , and quite a few of them can be named, who are corrupt, and let nature take its course. There are a lot of News media who think they are Experts and give their opinions on everything that goes on instead of just reporting the news, the newsmedia are the ones who are causing alot of the problems we have in the USA. Stop making our Country look bad, you so-called, way overpaid bunch of banna-heads are so far to the left of Main Street America, should go over to a country that will tolerate you taking our people for granted. God Bless this great Country and the Good people in our Goverment. Including our Military.

  • Posted By: tedglines @ 10/02/2008 3:17:00 AM

    With Senate passage of the Bailout, it now goes into the miasma of the House. Will it pass? Maybe. But there is nothing in this Bill which will cause Wall Street corporations adhere to sensible economics - do not spend more than you possess. Granny knows that much. Credit companies do not. Corporate investors do not. Consumers do not. Neither does our government. Our treasury (your tax dollars at work) has deep pockets but not $700 billion deep. Deficit spending works the same for government as it does for your own personal finances. Trouble is, our government does not have a bankruptcy option. No wonder Granny frowns at the irresponsibility of economic meltdown. Bailout? No, just our government writing a huge bad check.

  • Posted By: Krohn @ 10/01/2008 8:47:28 PM

    A man of great wisdom:
    http://www.atlah.org/broadcast/manningreport.html

  • Posted By: star3 @ 10/01/2008 8:13:21 PM

    This lady has a relistic attitude concerning finances, and how life works, and she learned it the hard way. We can all learn something from this. Its very simple, stop competeing with your neighbors or whoever, whom you feel has more, stop feeling you have to have certain things you can very well live without. If you want certain luxeries, work overtime, to acheive them. Take time to enjoy what you already have, and understand that wanting give your family a good life is a very
    fine thing, but your idea of a good life and theirs may differ. Your family would probably be willing to give up a few things on order to spend more time with you. Have family discussions concerning what each member feels is most important to them. Live life now, not sometime in the vague future which by the time it arrives, may not be as great as you anticipated, or it may be that by the time you reach your goals, you will find everyone else has moved on without you. Live within your means is what this lesson is all about.

  • Posted By: Davole @ 09/30/2008 7:19:02 PM

    A Proposal to Resolve the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Financial Fiasco

    In order to solve what has been termed the financial crisis, it is necessary to identify the cause of Fannie Mae???s and Freddie Mac???s catastrophic failure.

    The cause of their downfall is the partisan democrat pressure put on those companies to grant sub prime mortgages to persons who would be unable to repay those loans.

    The democrat senators and representatives, who mandated that financial background checks be considered unnecessary and unwarranted, facilitated that irresponsible granting of mortgages to those unable to repay. The motive of the democrat members of Congress was strictly and blatantly partisan - to buy votes, and to maintain years of party support.

    In 2005, John McCain co-authored a bill to investigate and regulate the faulty business practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but that was opposed and defeated by the democrats in Congress.

    On many occasions, President George W. Bush introduced proposals to regulate the mortgage lending companies, but those calls for regulation were opposed, obstructed, and defeated by democrats who were obsessed with the continuance of faulty lending practices.

    In order to reform the financial sector, it is necessary that the sleazy politicians and top administration of those 2 mortgage companies who perpetrated fraudulent activity be publicly identified, investigated, and severely punished for their undermining the national economy.

    It is only reasonable to expose the corrupt financial practices and their facilitators, and to remove them from any further activity, before any effort can be made to resurrect the American economy.
    Otherwise, any attempt to do so will be useless, because the problems and perpetrators would still be present to frustrate and obstruct any meaningful remedial action.

  • Posted By: Davole @ 09/30/2008 7:18:01 PM

    Continued - A Proposal to Resolve the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Financial Fiasco

    The first step toward economic recovery would be to isolate all sub prime mortgages from the assets of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, and to group the remaining viable ones into several stock options to be offered for sale to the public, and also as a bailout measure.

    That would result in an immediate infusion of cash into the banking sector, thereby ensuring that credit could be granted to qualifying loan applicants.

    Individuals or organizations who choose to buy those stock options should benefit additionally from any profits later realized by their investments.

    Also, any profits resulting from the bailout option should be refunded to the INCOME TAX PAYERS only, since they would be the ones who would have financed the bailout.

    Likewise, but separately, the various questionable sub prime mortgages should be bundled together into other stock options which would be structured to contain a mixture of both somewhat and less redeemable loans.

    Those sub prime mortgage packages should be offered first to democrats, especially wealthy ones, who might be attracted to them by their being valued at a price of 80 cents on the dollar, based on the face value of the mortgages.
    .
    That would afford them the option to support what democrats viewed to be a noble cause (home ownership for the unemployed), and besides, it might enable the stock option buyers to profit by 20 percent if all of the sub prime mortgages would be somehow repaid by the homeowners.

    Thus democrats, especially the likes of George Soros, Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Charlie Schumer (who supported the granting of sub prime mortgages irrespective of demonstrated ability to repay) would be able to ???put their money where their mouths are???!

    Lastly, there should be a guarantee that no further sub prime mortgages be granted.
    Home ownership is a GOAL for many financially responsible Americans - it is not a government sponsored RIGHT for all persons living legally and illegally in the US!

  • Posted By: Texas Gal @ 09/30/2008 6:15:47 PM

    Financial institutions got what they wanted - Almost no regulation - allowing them to operate freely. Now they find themselves in a bind due to their bad decisions, and they want the taxpayer to bail them out. Sorry - I wasn't invited to your party, I'm not helping you clean up your mess.

  • Posted By: Texas Gal @ 09/30/2008 6:13:15 PM

    First these businesses wanted deregulation so they could do as they please, now they want us to bail them out because they made bad decisions? Sorry - I wasn't part of your party, I'm not helping you clean up your mess.

  • Posted By: cholton @ 09/30/2008 1:35:31 PM

    Solution: For those of us that do pay our mortgages and manage our money, I would like to see these companies OFFER me a 10% discount to pay off my mortgage in full. Thus, an influx of cash to these companies to partially help against the loss.

  • Posted By: Lady1 @ 09/30/2008 1:12:37 PM

    No Bailout! This is corporate WELFARE at its finest. Let them get a taste of what the average Joe and Jane live every waking moment. NO BAILOUT!!

  • Posted By: Lady1 @ 09/30/2008 1:11:24 PM

    This is corporate WELFARE at its finest. NO BAILOUT!! Let them get a taste of what the average Joe and Jane have to endure each waking moment. NO BAILOUT!!

  • Posted By: sweet thing @ 09/29/2008 10:44:31 PM

    Yes this is true. Why ca't we get control of our finances? We point the finger at this one and we point the finger at this one. But the truth of the matter is we put them in office.We voted and now we are reaping what we put in office. Prayer changes things and until we realize that we have to look for leaders who have morals and are not thieves, liars, immoral and social greeters we will continue to put the same kind of trash in the white house

  • Posted By: sweet thing @ 09/29/2008 10:40:56 PM

    I agree with Ada.Sometimes you have to face the conequences and pay the piper. Not bail him out. We have to stop this craziness and it is not their money they are playing with. It is the tax payers and I think we should have the final say. Yes things will be tight but either we pay now by buckling down and stop this horrendous bail out or we pay later with recession,. depression, suicides and crash of our economy.

  • Posted By: pearsoncrz @ 09/28/2008 10:29:16 PM

    In 2005, for the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill, S. 190, was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets. If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0



    In support of S 190, also known as the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, John McCain said: "For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay."

    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16

    Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 would have Amended the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to establish: (1) in lieu of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an independent Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Agency which shall have authority over the Federal Home Loan Bank Finance Corporation, the Federal Home Loan Banks, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac); and (2) the Federal Housing Enterprise Board.
    Most importantly with regard to the CDS situation, S. 190 set forth operating, administrative, and regulatory provisions respecting: (1) assessment authority; (2) authority to limit nonmission-related assets; (3) minimum and critical capital levels; (4) risk-based capital test; (5) capital classifications and undercapitalized enterprises; (6) enforcement actions and penalties; (7) golden parachutes; and (8) reporting. Adoption of these regulatory provisions would have undoubtably affected the way CDSs were dealt with in "private" enterprises.
    The bill would have also amended the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to establish the Federal Home Loan Bank Finance Corporation., and transfered the functions of the Office of Finance of the Federal Home Loan Banks to such Corporation. If this had been in place three years ago, this whole situation might have been averted.

    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-190&tab=summary

  • Posted By: haynessemperfi @ 09/28/2008 9:10:02 PM

    http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/politics/nader_predicted_wall_street_me.php

    Nader Predicted Wall Street Meltdown
    By The Nader/Gonzalez Campaign

    Eight years ago, consumer advocate Ralph Nader correctly predicted that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) were on track to follow the savings and loan industry of the 1980s and 90s into a big financial heap of trouble. Nobody listened, and taxpayers are now at risk of losing tens of billions of dollars. Wall Street is being shaken to its foundation. American International Group Inc., the biggest U.S. insurer by assets, is now teetering on the brink of ruin after suffering losses of $18 billion in the past three quarters, largely due to its sub prime mortgage exposure.

    "Nader Rips Mae and Mac," declared the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal on June 16, 2000. "Ralph Nader, warning of a potential taxpayer bailout similar to the savings and loan crisis, urged lawmakers to cut government benefits to mortgage-market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - which he called 'poster children for corporate welfare.'"

    This year Nader, who is also running for president as an independent, is getting credit for his prescience.

    "Give one presidential candidate credit for identifying the problem and getting the policy right - and doing so before the twin government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went into the tank in mid-July," wrote Lou Dubose in The Washington Spectator on Aug. 1. Dubose went on to quote Nader's June 15, 2000 Congressional testimony about HR 3703, a bill that would have reigned in some of the most dangerous tendencies of GSE's, had it passed.

    In a letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in 2006, Nader also criticized the exorbitant salary of GSE executives Jamie Gorelick, Daniel Mudd, Robert Levin and Timothy Howard, and noted that their financial incentives were in direct conflict with consumer financial security because of the grave moral hazard created by accounting manipulations they sanctioned that benefited their personal wealth, with no penalty for being caught.

    "As you continue to investigate the Fannie Mae accounting debacle, we are writing to urge you to seek civil sanctions, including disgorgement, from senior executives who profited directly from the misconduct at Fannie Mae, and that you urge the Department of Justice to give careful consideration to criminal prosecution of these individuals," wrote Nader.

    www.votenader.org

  • Posted By: Davole @ 09/28/2008 8:46:33 PM

    Hallelujah!

    During the presidential debate 2 nights ago, I was astonished to notice that Barack Obama has finally ???seen the light.???

    He did ???a one hundred and eighty degree,??? by acknowledging in several instances that John McCain has, in what he has either said or done, actually been RIGHT!
    It???s about time that Barack Obama began to resort to speaking the truth.

    Was that a demonstration that the junior senator, who has merely 143 days of experience in that capacity (less the actual number of days that he spent scheming to enter the race for the presidency), has finally realized that John McCain greatly surpasses Obama???s capability to lead the nation as its president?

    What was he hoping to achieve by reversing his established daily propensity to lie?
    Did he think that John McCain, in his demonstrated ability to work in a bipartisan manner, would be generous enough to appoint Barack Obama either to his cabinet, or else to some other government position?

    Maybe he expected that John McCain would take pity on him, and thereby appoint him to the position of ambassador to Kenya. In that capacity, maybe Barack Obama would be instructed to donate at least $10.00 to his half brother George Obama in order to raise his standard of living. What a noble and compassionate gesture that would be!

  • Posted By: decent human @ 09/28/2008 8:44:12 PM

    If they are that sure that it was illegal trading by these company's . They should seize every asset these company's have including those of the wives and children that live at home. They should not be able to walk away with the taxpayers money while they live in huge mansions and have summer homes in the Bahamas.
    Remember while the government is crying for them you and I will be sleeping in an alley because of them.






    people they destroyed





    remember they are putting people

  • Posted By: TomInOakland @ 09/26/2008 7:34:23 PM

    I appreciate this story about an elderly woman starting over after bankruptcy. But I also find it an odd way to discuss the Wall Street bailout. At its heart, Ms. Noda's story is actually an indictment of the American health care system. Ms. Noda was bankrupted by her medical bills. If she were German, Japanese, French or British it's hard to imagine she would have had to suffer as much as she has in the United States. Of all the industrialized nations in the world, only in the United States do we consider it acceptable for an elderly woman like Ms. Noda, who worked all her life, to be forced into bankruptcy by her medical bills.

    • Posted By: SuzyQ1 @ 09/28/2008 5:00:10 PM

      I got into financial trouble taking care of my mother, then getting kicked around by accountants because of my health. At the age of 78, I had reached the point where I was working simply to pay the increasing charges by the credit card companies. If they had listened and been willing to work with me, I could have been paying down the principal instead of running in place paying the interest and monthly fees they tacked on. Like Ms. Noda, I had bypass surgery (quadruple), live in a mobile home (on land that will be mine with one more payment), have a dog and cat and had to declare bankruptcy. Surviving on Social Security is about the best way to describe it. I am grateful that Medicare paid for my surgery and pays part of my prescription medicine costs. You should see the premiums I pay for these benefits along with a medigap policy. I wouldn't trade places with any of those folks who are grabbing money any way they can. Living may not be easy,but I can live with myself.

  • Posted By: tcnw @ 09/28/2008 4:58:45 PM

    if everyone in the US is like old grandma Aida, we will not have these crisis. People borrow too much and cannot pay back. Why we just blame on the government and financial institution and not these people. Look at all these bad assets that cause the breakdown of the US economy and you will be amazed how many irresponsible middle and lower class people out there. If they can repay their debt or loan, we won't have these kind of crisis. Maybe we should start not giving credit to the the middle and lower class until they save enough money and pay cash just like the rich do. We only have a few grandma Aida in this country and we have to bear the burden of all those irresponsible people.

  • Posted By: esromel @ 09/28/2008 4:57:18 PM

    Gee Newt, if anyone would know you should! And like everyone we pretended to elect, liars, cheats, thieves, who better would know them, than one of their own kind.
    Tell 'W' to go back to the swamp he crawled out of, because his moron daddy is back in control...of the beginning of the GREAT AMERICAN DOWNFALL. Depression. Decline. Total ripoff.
    Let's all get behind more jobs going overseas.
    Maybe now you'll plant that garden, so you can live a little longer, and suffer more of these grandiouse political scabs.
    Noda...good news...their gonna take your trailer too!

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