You're out another Five Billion... Eh, That's Chicken Feed These Days Though

Freddie Mac Posts $5 Billion Loss

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News; NYSE:FRE - News), the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted a loss of $5 billion in the third quarter and predicted it would need more government support amid a "prolonged deterioration" in housing.

Oh, and you're about to become a landlord. That ought to work out well, right?

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Boo Hoo Hoo Freakin' Hoo

Poor little Susan Roesgen had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen could barely get through her live shot at the Chicago tea party this afternoon. Over shouts of, "You're not a reporter," Roesgen quickly wrapped up an interview with an attendee, then said, "I think you get the general tenor of this. It's anti-government, anti-CNN since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox."

Seriously though - as someone pointed out - wouldn't people have to actually watch CNN in order to hate it?

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Don't Blame Me - I Voted Against Him

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A Bad Case Of "Now What?" Syndrome

Via Reuters Vaunted Obama Message Machine Is Off-key

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs reacted defensively, saying Obama has only been in office seven weeks and it should be no surprise that "all of the problems that took many years to take hold haven't necessarily been solved."

Obama, at Tuesday's education event, rejected criticism that he is trying to do too many things at once, citing three predecessors who managed to juggle challenges on many fronts --Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy.

"President Kennedy didn't have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon. And we don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term," he said.

What was it Lloyd Bentsen said about John F. Kennedy?

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What Happened To That Wall?

Minnesota State Agency Offers Islamic Mortgages

For many Minnesota Muslims, it's been virtually impossible to buy a home, because Islamic law forbids the paying or charging of interest. To help close the home ownership gap among Muslim immigrants, the state's housing agency has launched a new program offering Islamic mortgages.

Islamic law does make exceptions to the ban on interest, if one's family is at stake. But the exceptions are open to interpretation and for many observant Muslims, conventional mortgages are strictly taboo.

Nawawi Sheikh is one of them. The Somali-American said he and his wife just couldn't go against their beliefs, even if it meant giving up their dream of owning a home. Still, he grew tired of moving from one rented apartment to another.

Well boo hoo, Nawai. What happened to making choices?

Here's how the mortgage, known as Murabaha financing or "cost plus sale," works:

The state buys a home and resells it to the buyer at a higher price. The down payment and monthly installments are agreed to up front at current mortgage rates.

The deal is identical to a thirty-year fixed-rate loan, except there's no additional interest, because the higher up-front price factors in payments that would have been made over the life of a traditional mortgage.

A handful of private banks and lending institutions offer Islamic mortgages in the U.S., but Minnesota Housing is the first state agency to offer such a product. The program is the brainchild of Hussein Samatar, director of the African Development Center in Minneapolis.

"The process is different, but the outcome will look the same," Samatar said. "We wanted to be as conventional as possible, while respecting the tenets of Islam."

Hey Mr. Samatar, it's not the state's business to find ways to accommodate Islam or any other religion. What happened to that "wall of separation" we hear about from the ACLU all the time? They must think it's only meant to separate Jewish or Christian religion and state. I really wouldn't have a problem with this Murabaha business if it was a private group or agency offering these "loans", but to have the State of Minnesota running this program is hypocritical at best. This program better be available to anyone in Minnesota regardless of religion.

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Obama's New High Inquisitor Of The Economy

Obama economist more bullish than CFOs

The designated chair of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers predicts the economy will see "positive growth by the end of this year."

This assessment by Christina Romer, made at a "Credit Crisis on Main Street Summit" in Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, is more optimistic than the view held by private-sector chief financial officers.

Romer told summit attendees an anecdote that illustrated the pressure Obama's economic advisers face. She joined Obama's transition team after Thanksgiving, and personally gave the president-elect the news about the 500,000 jobs the economy lost in November.

"I'm so sorry," she told Obama. Obama replied, "It's not your fault -- yet."

At least it BETTER show positive growth by the end of 2009... or else!

Delores Umbridge comparison courtesy of Dr. Sanity.

I thought exactly the same thing the first time I saw Umbridge... uh, I mean Romer... I better be careful, or it'll be the blood quill for me.

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Does Sully Want Bipartisanship For Bipartisanship Sake?

Andrew Sullivan offers his perspective on the vote for the stimulus package. Considering his increasingly risible meandering into what the hell happened to you? land (Trig Palin anyone?), I don't think he should be so quick to throw around pejoratives like "autistic" and "ideological".

It seems to escape Andrew's understanding that the Republicans in Congress may actually be responding to the people who sent them to Washington. Bipartisanship simply for the sake of bipartisanship is not only stupid, but dangerous.

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Yowch!

Forget the icecaps, Victor Davis Hanson says there's a meltdown of epic proportion coming in the Obama White House. Our enemies are challenging us, Obama is flipping and flopping on his pretty campaign trail rhetoric (rendition and FISA anyone?), several of his key appointees are dusty if not downright dirty, and the Democratic Congress is set to use B. Hussein as a rubber stamp for their own agenda. Hanson draws the following conclusion: If he doesn't quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism—angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame.

Via RightWingSparkle

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So Long, Farewell, Adiós, Goodbye

Some Mexicans Leaving US, Planning Never To Return

All are leaving Colorado in time for Christmas — joining a traditional holiday migration that will number almost 1 million people, says Mexico's interior ministry. But they have no intention of returning to Colorado, a place that promised prosperity.

Layoffs, dwindling job opportunities, anti-immigrant sentiment and the crackdown on illegal immigrants are forcing hard choices on many Mexican nationals in Colorado. Though not an exodus, some are returning to a nation they haven't seen in years.

What do you know? An upside to the downside.

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Jesse Jackson Still Lurking About...

It looks like Jesse Jackson has found something to do in our "post-racial" America:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has begun meeting with the hundreds of workers occupying a Chicago factory that they say gave them just three days' notice before closing.

The workers say they won't leave the Republic Windows and Doors plant until they are assured that they'll receive their severance and vacation pay.

Jackson met with the workers Sunday morning. His Rainbow PUSH Coalition says he's trying to help get Republic's creditor, the Bank of America, to reinstate the company's line of credit and save around 300 jobs.

Union organizer Leah Fried says the window manufacturer can't pay its employees because the Bank of America won't let them.

The bank's said it isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

And it still involves his favorite economic activity: shaking down corporations for money justice...

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Fred Thompson Tells It Like It Is On Government Spending

Unfortunately he's speaking common sense, so it'll be lost on 99.9% of our elected officials and a frighteningly large number of our countrymen.

via Lifelike Pundits

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Yet Again...

US Government Steps In To Save Citi

Where does this end?

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The Forbidden SNL Skit

Pat Dollard has the whole video.

Michelle Malkin has the screen shots and transcript.

I downloaded the file. Note to NBC... censorship is dead in the age of the internet.

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Barney Tries To Deflect Criticism

In the typical Democrat style, Barney Frank is attempting to deflect criticism of the Democrat Party's complete culpability in the current financial crisis by crying - you guessed it - racism!

Well Barney, let me set you straight (pardon the pun), there's nothing "veiled" or "racist" in the criticism of you and your party's reckless - and quite possibly fraudulent - mismanagement of Fannie and Freddie. I'll say it loud and say it proud: YOU ARE TO BLAME!

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What? Is She Gonna Write A Check?

Germany Guarantees Savings To Avert Panic

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Don't Let Barney Frank Touch Your Dice

Wise words in any context, but especially when it comes to Fannie and Freddie. Here's some - hopefully more, and more well known - quotes from Democrats about the two government mortgage giants:

House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 10, 2003

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . .

Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), speaking to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez: Secretary Martinez, if it ain't broke, why do you want to fix it? Have the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises] ever missed their housing goals?

House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003

Rep. Frank: I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing...

Senate Banking Committee, Oct. 16, 2003

Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.): And my worry is that we're using the recent safety and soundness concerns, particularly with Freddie, and with a poor regulator, as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie's mission. And I don't think there is any doubt that there are some in the administration who don't believe in Fannie and Freddie altogether, say let the private sector do it. That would be sort of an ideological position.

Mr. Raines: But more importantly, banks are in a far more risky business than we are.

A Washington joke making the rounds in 2006: What's the difference between Enron and Fannie Mae? The guys at Enron have been convicted. More here.

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The Quintessential Double Standard

Barney Frank Was Screwing Around With Fannie Mae...Literally!

Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.

So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

"It’s absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?

"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard."

A top GOP House aide agreed.

"C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?" the aide told FOX News. "No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws."

Frank’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Democrats in general and Frank in particular thwarted all efforts by GOP lawmakers and the Clinton administration to bring Fannie and Freddie under control. Barney Frank is guilty of gross negligence and potentially of criminal acts. He should resign immediately and there should be a thorough investigation of his actions on Fannie Mae. Impeachment is another word that springs to mind.

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The Democrats Happened, That's What...

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What Goes Up, Must Come Down, Goes Back Up, Then Round And Round

Financial Markets Go Up And Down As They Should

...it would be unwise to read too much into the Dow plunge, or to link it exclusively to the political circus in Washington. Stocks appeared to be heading lower no matter how Congress voted. Indeed, from the moment congressional leaders announced Sunday they had a deal, filled with anti-market schemes and regulation, stock prices began falling in Asia and Europe. Early yesterday, when it was expected the bailout would be approved, the Dow was down 500 points.

Bailout or no bailout, the stock markets were heading lower as financial markets continue to undergo massive asset revaluations. No matter what elaborate new rescue packages Congress, the Bush administration and the U.S. Federal Reserve bring to the party, the market is going to continue marking stock prices and other assets down until values reach realistic levels.

This is not, nor can it be, the beginning of the end of the U.S. or world financial system. It's simply how the financial market works, how it should work. And it is working, whatever the games being played out in Washington and whatever their belief that governments can resolve the crisis.

The free market isn't for the faint of heart (including the most faint of heart creature known to man: The Politician), but it does work. The sky doesn't seem to be falling. For instance, markets aren't crashing and McDonald's franchisees can still get credit. I have a feeling that the longer it takes for the gubmin't to put together a "rescue" plan - without the world ending before they finish - the harder it's going to be to sell the American taxpayer on the need for Uncle Sam to "save the day."

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