Friday October 3, 2008, 1:59 am
Politics in the Zeros: Spread the meme. Republicans are the party that wrecked America. John McCain’s long history with bank failures and financial scandals makes him uniquely ‘qualified’ to speak to the current crisis.

The next time a Republican friend says McCain is ready to Regulate the financial world... Refer them to ProgressiveAccounting.org
for a really long list of all the DEREGULATION McCain has supported over the past 26 years to get us into this mess.

Then suggest a vote for Obama.

Friday October 3, 2008, 3:33 am
I don't know how true the following is, I received in an email and haven't researched the allegations. Sorry 'bout the length...

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have
brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie
Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae
when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's
accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street
Journal noted, " Raines, who long defended the
company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper,
issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made" and
saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News
reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators
to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's
books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four
years." Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits.
The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the
accounting scandal became clear.
http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/
. The Government
noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly
manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly
neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over
twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the
public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading
and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that
enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner." These
charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50
Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie
Mae profits.

Net windfall . . . $190 million!

Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was
a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would
ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday English -
he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation determined that,
"Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate
oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice
Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae
executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied
manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve
management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the
company's board of directors since concluded that management did
manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned
under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later
forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of
Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report
on mismanagement
and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some interesting things
about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a
substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public,
reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it
was $21 million." Johnson is currently under investigation for taking
illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.



WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic
Advisor

TIM HOWARD? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was
selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee



IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS - HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE EXPERTISE
- THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Would you trust the men who
tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall Street ? /email

Again, I am unaware of the truthfulness of this email and if anyone can disprove it with links and info I'd appreciate it so I can reply to the email's sender. Yep, I'm being lazy and relying on my savvy pals here @Care2!

Friday October 3, 2008, 5:26 am
I do not say much about for whom this crisis brings benefits. I think it is clear enough anyway. But think about this: Before World WarII we had a world wide economy crisis. Nostradamus predicted a world wide economy crisis short before WWIII.

Friday October 3, 2008, 6:14 am
good point ralph I have said this for along time ty gregory

Friday October 3, 2008, 8:22 pm

Just googled the three advisors for Obama and THE RUMORS ARE FALSE...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/fanniemae.asp

Friday October 3, 2008, 8:46 pm
This email seems to be a result of remarks Mr. McCain made at a speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin on September 19th, and a resulting newly released television ad focusing on Raines. Here’s what I found however. No connection between Howard and the Obama campaign at all. To be fair, Mr. Johnson did work on Obama’s Vice Presidential candidate selection committee, but resigned after a month after questions were raised regarding favoritism he may have received from Countrywide Financial Corp. He was in no way a “Senior Obama Finance Advisor.”

Regarding Franklin Raines, the McCain campaign is going on flimsy evidence of a few phone calls that may have occurred between Raines and the Obama campaign on “general housing, economy issues.” Again, he is not a “Chief Economic Advisor” to Senator Obama.

This is why people like me have a dislike for politics, we are being lied to. Well, as this Washington Monthly writer points out, these ads may just backfire for the McCain campaign, as they could also remind people of their candidate’s own (real) connections to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Friday October 3, 2008, 8:46 pm
THE RAINES/JOHNSON SILVER BULLET?.... John McCain and his campaign seem to think they have a new trump card to play against Obama -- he's been associated with Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, both of whom are former Fannie Mae executives. The connections are the subject of two new McCain campaign TV ads, and I was just watching an event in Minnesota where McCain seemed to find the subject of Obama's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ties utterly fascinating.

Like most of McCain's attacks, I get the sense he hasn't thought this one through.

First, McCain insists that Raines is an advisor to the Obama campaign. As we discussed earlier, McCain simply isn't telling the truth.

Second, if getting advice from officials at troubled financial institutions is a sign of bad judgment, McCain way want to explain why two of his top advisors include John Thain, from Merrill Lynch, and Martin Feldstein, who serves on AIG's board of directors.

Third, and most importantly, all McCain's attacks do is offer people like me a chance to remind folks about his own connections to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

More than Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain's circle of advisers and contributors includes current and former lobbyists or directors for the companies, although since July he has called for a ban on any lobbying by the two firms.

Among the companies' past advocates are Mr. McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, a longtime lobbyist; Mr. McCain's confidant and adviser Charlie Black, whose firm worked for Freddie Mac for several years ending in 2005, and the deputy campaign finance chairman, Wayne L. Berman, a vice president for Ogilvy Worldwide and a former Fannie Mae lobbyist.

Mr. Davis previously was head of the Homeownership Alliance, a coalition of banks and housing industry interests led by Fannie and Freddie to stave off regulations.

I just don't understand what McCain is thinking here; he seems to assume that his comments won't receive any scrutiny at all.

He is, without a hint of shame, attacking Obama for having connections with two former Fannie Mae executives. At the same time, one of McCain's top policy advisors, Charlie Black, was lobbyist for Freddie Mac for 10 years, while his campaign manager, Rick Davis, lobbied to help Fannie and Freddie steer clear of additional federal regulations (which, obviously, would have been pretty helpful in retrospect).

But wait, there's more. Tom Loeffler, who served as McCain's campaign co-chairman, also lobbied for Fannie Mae. Aquiles Suarez, a McCain economic advisor, was a Fannie Mae executive. Dan Crippen, a McCain advisor who helped craft the campaign's health-care policy, lobbied for Fannie Mae (and Merrill Lynch). Arthur B. Culvahouse, who helped lead McCain's VP search committee, also lobbied for Fannie Mae. In all, McCain has 19 people who are either advisors or fundraisers who lobbied for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

And voters are supposed to be outraged because of Obama's connections to Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson? Why would McCain even start on this subject at all, making the argument that ties to Fannie/Freddie are scandalous, given his own associations?

It seems the underlying point to just about every McCain argument is that voters won't pay attention to the details.

Saturday October 4, 2008, 1:34 am
Carol.... **goldstars** for diging 'the dirt'!
My thanx to you and of course... to Gregory for the thread to ask my question

Tuesday October 21, 2008, 1:40 pm
Something now of these talking heads ever mentions, our economy is screwed because we consume but don't produce anything. We have to bring production back to America. Buy American!