What else can we do but take refuge in some dark humor. Caroline Baum, Bloomberg:
Just imagine if the tables were reversed. Frank and Waters are seated at the witness table instead of perched on the hearing room dais. The questioning would go something like this:Oh, well, what will be the next private sector punching bag? The president dissed Vegas, the Dems dumped on Cessna etc. I guess they are trolling for some more campaign donations. Protection money.Chairman Frank, on July 14, 2008, you made the following pronouncements about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two huge government-sponsored enterprises that are the key players in mortgage finance:
“Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound.”
“They are not in danger of going under.”
“Looking at the financials, they’re solid.”
You followed that analysis with a forecast. Referring to legislation before your committee to allow the Treasury to lend to and buy unlimited shares in the GSEs, you said: “We’re doing three separate things that make it much less likely -- very, very unlikely -- that we’ll have this kind of a housing crisis six months or a year from now.”
Less than two months later, Fannie and Freddie were wards of the state.
Just answer the questions, Mr. Chairman.
I'm listening to oldies on the radio. At least if I'm going back to 70's style Carternomics misery I can pretend I'm young again.
