[tomder55]

In a move that can only be labelled as mining the tip of the iceberg;the Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil fraud charges against six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying they misled the government and taxpayers about risky subprime mortgages their institutions held during the housing bubble bust.

Headlining the charges are two former CEOs, Fannie's Daniel Mudd and Freddie's Richard Syron .Absent from the list are Fannie infamous leaders of the recent past James Johnson ,Franklin Raines ,and Jamie Gorelick. Johnson in particular did as much to create the crisis as anyone in the country not named Barney Frank,Chris Dodd ,and Andrew Cuomo.

The troika not only led their institution and the market to the abyss . But they also looted Fannie to the tune of $150 million in the process.

Civil charges of course do not threaten criminal consequences. But I guess it's possible that the Justice Dept will go after their cronies and slap them with criminal charges. Maybe with some more discovery ,depositions ,investigations ,plea bargaining etc. investigators will build a case against them . Maybe they'll get that one faster than the do tying Newt Gingrich's lobbying... oops I mean consulting.. to some kind of unethical behavior ;or smear against him.

[paraclete]

So the OWS has borne fruit after all

[tomder55]

The OWS can't spell SEC

[tomder55]

You are probably right in that this is an attempt at appeasing the Obama natural base . He can now crow that the SEC ;under his leadership(guffaw ) ,is going after those evil "banksters" .In truth ,this is low hanging fruit and sacrificial lambs . As I mentioned ;why not go after the ones who set it up and walked with the big bucks ? Because they are the cronies of the Democrat machine. The SEC also signed "nonprosecution agreements" with Fannie and Freddie. So no matter how guilty their executives turn out to be, they won't be punished.

The typical fine by the SEC is a 5% fine on gains... it's a pay to play system.

The correct action would be to shut down Fannie and Freddie as GSE's and privatize them.

You want something for the OWS people to do in their winter encampments in their parents heated homes ? Why not march down to Washington and demand to know why the response to Congressional insider trading is so lame ?

Don't be fooled by news of bills going through the Senate that would restrict insider trading on pending legislation but wouldn't address insider trading under other circumstances by elected leaders.
End the practice of elected leaders playing in the market. Perhaps then we would get leadership as the founders imagined.. Motivated Patriots who come in and serve in Congress a short time ,and not make a life time of it because it's a lucrative career .

[paraclete]

Tom are you telling me your politicians are allowed to play the market while in office without declaration of interest?

[tomder55]

To date yes... there was recently a 60 Minutes expose on that very subject . Former House Speaker Pelosi among many others made a killing by placing stock bets on companies and industries that they had legislation pending. Often they sat on the very committees where these decision that affected stock prices are made.
Not only that ;they made law that exempted themselves from insider trading violations... and now exposed ;are offering watered down restrictions to respond to the criticism .

[paraclete]

Tell me Tom how do you define corruption over there?

[tomder55]

That's about as corrupt as you get . You see my problem with the government yet ? Why I don't want this to become ever increasingly bigger ?

[paraclete]

How do you stop corruption in public life? Its hard, we had to set up an independent investigator to deal with any allegations.

[Athos]

There's no question that a huge black mark against the Obama administration is its failure to doggedly pursue those who caused the world wide financial disaster.

Goldman Sachs got a $500 million nolo contendere penalty - about equal to several hours profits for that criminal outfit.

Even more bizarrely, Standard and Poor's, the crooks who falsified bond ratings in return for huge payoffs, had the chutzpah to downgrade the US credit rating. Hey, you can't make this stuff up, folks.

The corruption with Wall Street and government stroking each other is shameful - both parties are guilty.

[excon]

the Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil fraud charges

Hello tom:

Civil... BFD.

excon

[tomder55]

That's all the SEC can do. Holder needs to make criminal charges if warranted .

[excon]

Hello again, tom:

I'm not impressed.

excon

[tomder55]

Who said I am ? SEC 's actions are lame even if this is all they can do.They only scratched the surface ;and the Obama cronies will not slap their own with criminal charges.

[tomder55]

Finally the emperor is backing plans to shut down those 'too big to fail' institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

First, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage markets. I know that sounds confusing to folks who call me a socialist,”... “I believe that our housing system should operate where there's a limited government role,”... “and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market.”

Text of Obama Speech on Homeownership - Washington Wire - WSJ
That is a welcome change from his days as a Senator ,where he voted present .

In the summer of 2005, a bill emerged from the Senate Banking Committee that considerably tightened regulations on Fannie and Freddie, including controls over their capital and their ability to hold portfolios of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. All the Republicans voted for the bill in committee; all the Democrats voted against it. To get the bill to a vote in the Senate, a few Democratic votes were necessary to limit debate. This was a time for the leadership Sen. Obama says he can offer, but neither he nor any other Democrat stepped forward.

Instead, by his own account, Mr. Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury Secretary, allegedly putting himself on record that subprime loans were dangerous and had to be dealt with. This is revealing; if true, it indicates Sen. Obama knew there was a problem with subprime lending -- but was unwilling to confront his own party by pressing for legislation to control it.

Obama Voted 'Present' on Mortgage Reform - WSJ.com
But that was back in the days when he needed their campaign donations.
Update: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers - OpenSecrets Blog

[paraclete]

At last sanity in public policy. No government should insure mortgages, banks should make their own assessment of risk

[talaniman]

Who investigates the SEC? They rubberstamped those worthless derivatives for the banks for years.

[paraclete]

The SEC would say they took the advice of rating agencies who are culpable

[tomder55]

When you can show me criminal activity inside the SEC we can make the comparison.