The Death of Direct Sales

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Posted By: Rich Klein

But to my dear friend Mr. Ted, the Republicans had control of Congress in 2003 so if Bush and Greenspan wanted something done -- they had the perfect opportunity.

EVERYONE messed up this event.

Rich

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Posted By: CoreyRS.hanus

"BY 2003 BUSH AND GREENSPAN WARNED FREDDIE MAC & FANNIE MAE TO CORRECT THEIR IRRE-
SPONSIBLE LENDING PRACTICES. AND, IN 2006 McCAIN WROTE A LETTER (publicly available to
anyone with an open mind willing to read it)....FURTHER WARNING THIS INSTITUTION TO CLEAN
UP THEIR OPERATION.

DEMOCRATS BARNEY FRANK AND CHRIS DODD (ALONG WITH PELOSI AND REID) FOUGHT THESE
WARNINGS, WHILE TELLING EVERYONE THAT FREDDIE MAC & FANNIE MAE WERE RESPONSIBLE
INSTITUTIONS."

Thank you Ted for exposing some basic truths that unfortunately few seem to care about. As much, if not more than anything else, these lending practices by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have created the mess we are in today, and the precarious financial position of much of the middle class. And the reason these practices took place is because of Democratic policies and fundamental lack of understanding of their implications.

There seems to be a good political lesson lurking in this election. The way back into the White House is for the party currently out of it to by its policies deliberately tank the economy. So when the next presidential election comes up they can ride the coattails of the inevitable public response of blaming the party that controls the White House. Facts apparently in politics account for little.

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Posted By: David Atkatz

Interesting, Corey.

The party not in power deliberately tanks the economy.

And where was the party in power while all this was going on?

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

I think David's achieved tenure in this thread and he, much like in his world of academia, can sit back in his smug digs and throw his napalm across the bow of the rest of you. He's trolling.......

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Posted By: CoreyRS.hanus

David,

Last I looked the Democrats controlled the House and the Senate. They therefore controlled the legislative branch and had complete ability to thawrt any attempts to rein in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Or, from the opposite perspective, they had the political clout to do something to prevent the middle class from being suckered into taking out loans they could not afford.

Tell me something, do you have the same outrage toward Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd that you do toward George Bush?

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Posted By: Glyn Parson

All I can say is thank god I dont use posts on baseball card message boards to get information about the people I can vote for. The vitriol from both sides is very disappointing in such a crucial time. Whomever gets elected I hope we all want them to be succesful in leading us out of this mess and in making the country the best it can be.

Thanks,
Glyn

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

This from Alan Greenspan in 2003 according to Bloomberg.com:

Greenspan Backs Homeowner Debt as Prices Increase (Update1)

By Will Edwards

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners have amassed a record $6.82 trillion of mortgage debt as real estate values jumped in the past decade, and have borrowed against their homes for spending money. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the nation's guardian of financial stability, is supporting them.

``We know that increases in home values and the borrowing against home equity likely helped cushion the effects of a declining stock market during 2001 and 2002,'' Greenspan said in a Feb. 23 speech in Washington.

Some economists including Yale University's Robert Shiller say they disagree with the Fed chairman, arguing that consumers shouldn't use home values to supplement spending when their hourly wages are rising at the slowest pace on record and the savings rate is a third of the last decade's average. As borrowing costs rise, mortgage payments may jump for households with adjustable-rate loans, causing delinquencies, Shiller says.

``Lenders are allowing people to borrow more against their house, but Greenspan is saying that home prices are outstripping that,'' said Shiller, a 57-year-old professor of economics at Yale, in a March 18 phone interview from Rome. His 2000 book, ``Irrational Exuberance,'' published before the 2001-2002 market slide, argued that stocks were overvalued.

The surge in house values is ``not going to continue,'' Shiller said. ``It's already slowing down in a number of cities, where we could see home price declines. There is a possibility of a real problem. I wouldn't minimize it.'' Last year's 7.5 percent jump in the median house price to $170,000 was the biggest since an 11.7 percent increase in 1980.

If need be, I'll dig up where Warren Buffett drubbed Greenspan in a 2003 discussion/debate involving many of these sam eissues.

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

From Mortgage Daily News in '04

The Chairman, in a series of speeches delivered last week, stated that neither record high oil prices or soaring consumer debt should be of undue concern to the financial markets, nor is the inflated housing market a bubble that is about to burst, destroying the equity of millions of American families.

Greenspan famously commented on the "irrational exuberance and unduly escalating stock prices" in 1996. However, he seems comfortable with a housing market where values have risen nearly 40% in the last three years as interest rates dropped to historic lows. In some demographic hot spots such as Las Vegas, Boston, and Washington, D.C. prices have risen even higher - as much as 70% - in the same period.

Greenspan stated that the sheer size of the U.S. housing market provides some insulation from a rapid drop in prices and that Americans seemed to be handling their mortgage and other debt well.

According to Reuters News Agency, many economists disagree with the Chairman's assessment, calling him a "cheerleader" or complaining, in the words of one bond strategist that "There just doesn't seem to be that much that worries him."

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Posted By: JimCrandell

The guy has zero knowledge outside of his little world of physics.

You have no idea what you are talking about relative to my former firm and no idea what you are talking about relative to me so why don't you go lock yourself in a little room in Saratoga, NY at that second rate college you are an asst prof at and stare at your hand for a few hours...

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

the Motley Fool lists him prominently among those to blame:

Alan Greenspan
If not the boldest of the group, then at least the most public, Greenspan, the man many are now blaming for the housing bubble (there were a brave few that piped up years ago), has refused to go quietly into his well-padded retirement. The man charged with providing the country with a financial voice of reason fell far short, so much so that it might be comical if it weren't so tragic.

Greenspan's denial of the possibility of a housing bubble has been widely derided in the past year, but a single statement could be excused as human error. However, a quick scan shows that this wasn't a single event. He also promoted the adoption and expansion of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) products in early 2004, when short-term rates were at or near historic lows. That same year he claimed, "securitization by Fannie and Freddie allows mortgage originators to separate themselves from almost all aspects of risk associated with mortgage lending." And separate themselves they did, ceasing to perform any kind of due diligence as to the ability of borrowers to pay for the homes they were buying.

Now retired from his role as the nation's monetary conscience, Greenspan continues to espouse his, er, theories on the financial crisis through editorials in which he denies any culpability for the events of the past three years. He is also applying his experience and insight as an advisor for Paulson & Company, a hedge fund which cashed in on billions of dollars by calling the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that Greenspan helped create.

So it seems some would disagree with the assessment that Alan Greenspan effectively sounded the alarm--no?

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

http://paxalles.blogs.com/paxalles/2008/09/barney-franks-1.html

Barney Franks former flame Herb Moses........a big shot at Fannie Mae..........
Things that make you go hmm.........
And he's out front and center on the financial bailout........

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Posted By: John

"(a) 200% health tax on all foods which the government (based on some tbd standard) deems unhealthy.
This would go along way toward curing most of America's Health Problems."

LOL...Bruce do you own a mirror?

No offense buddy but I find it hard to believe you're rocking the healthy lifestyle...at least not enough to recommend taxing unhealthy foods...LOL

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Posted By: David Atkatz

<<Last I looked the Democrats controlled the House and the Senate. They therefore controlled the legislative branch and had complete ability to thawrt any attempts to rein in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.>>

With a one Senator majority?!

Tell me you're joking.

And, speaking of consistency, you seem to be saying the Democrats are in power. So which is it?

Can't have it both ways, you know.

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Posted By: David Atkatz

My second-rate college is still in business, Jimbo.

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Posted By: David Atkatz

<<I think David's achieved tenure in this thread and he, much like in his world of academia, can sit back in his smug digs and throw his napalm across the bow of the rest of you. He's trolling.......>>

Got a few mixed metaphors, there, Tom.

And not allowing right-wing drivel to go unanswered isn't trolling.

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Posted By: Cat

David:

You are a socially inept, bitter, professor of theoretical physics.

Have you ever xxxxx? Just curious


getting a little too personal (leon)

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Posted By: David Atkatz

You're way out of line, there, Cat.

(As to your question, perhaps you should xxxxx.)

edited per rules (leon)