Comments for David Brooks Discovers That It Was All Fannie Mae's Fault at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 13 out of 13 comments http://www.cepr.net Sat, 25 May 2013 01:32:16 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9662 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/fannie-mae-silence-on-taylor-bean-mortgages-opened-way-to-3-billion-fraud.html "Fannie Mae officials never reported the fraud to law enforcement or anyone outside the company." - AndrewDover Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:10:26 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9451 The right wing apologists never let the facts get in the way of their propaganda. Subprime mortgages were created and promoted by private companies to skim their profit off the top and then pass the problem to other investors. Even then if the rating agencies had properly rated these investments, then there could be no excuse for the market to not price them properly. This is a failure of the free market along with the accompanying fraud. The right wingers are already propagandizing that ACORN is going to steal the next elections, even though they no longer exist. - FoonTheElder Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:40:04 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9434 "btw, please stop repeatedly congratulating yourself on having been bearish on housing before most people. (MANY people were bearish in 03.)" Right. There were so many bearish people that we ended up with the biggest financial bubble in the history of mankind. - trf Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:21:29 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9433 I think you missed the thrust of Brooks' column. No doubt, you've read The Levin Report, in particular, the case study of WaMu's operations. What did you make of the fact that WaMu was able to get FNMA & FHMLC to compete against each other for WaMu's loan-originations? And btw, please stop repeatedly congratulating yourself on having been bearish on housing before most people. ([i]Many[/i] people were bearish in 03.) - Thorstein Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:47:08 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9432 It's true Brooks emphasis on Fannie as the main agent causing the great slum is silly, but lets not forget the Frank is corrupt to the core - Fannie Mae was the revolving door between politics and money at its worst And 1st as ranking member, then as chair of house banking, not only did Frank not thunder against this, he tried to feed at the trough. I wonder if Mr Baker or any of the readers or posters on this blog remember the story this winter, that Fannie (thats u and me, taxpayers) is footing the legal bills of the disgraced ceo to the tune of 10s of millions. Frank could have held hearing on this He is corrupt. - ezra abrams Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:32:05 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9431 Brooks is so genteel that he managed not to say that "Banks collapsed because gays like Barney Frank made them loan money to ni@@@@@ like they were real people." That's about it for Brooks' defense. - Binky the disconsolate bear Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:38:51 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9427 I know we are not supposed to feed the trolls, but I have to say I am in awe of the latest post by Izzatzo. I espcially enjoyed the line,"It was expectations of this threat of government interference that drove the investment banks to push bad loans before the government could displace them." This is cutting edge stuff that will lead to a whole new defense strategy in rape trials: I assaulted her because if I didn't someone else would have. As Pres. Obama said to Donald Trump, "Well played, sir. Well played." - Elliot Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:00:42 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9424 And let's not leave out the fact that in their haste to bundle these crappy mortgages nine different ways from Sunday, the private mortgage system cut every corner, violated the law, committed fraud, violated the the terms of trust agreements, etc. to the point where it is unclear who owns the note on millions of properties. Who can foreclose if a loan goes bad? Were the mortgages transferred into trusts properly? If not can the securities be considered "mortgage backed"? If not, did the bank selling them commit fraud? My mortgage is current and way above water, but do I have clear title and can I sell my house? How do we fix this mess and figure out who owns what without collapsing the system and/or violating 200 years of legal precedent involving real estate law? - BH in MA Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:59:25 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9422 otherwise astute reading, Dean, you have missed the whole point of Brooks/Mortgensen...it is the political economy which mattered....not whether Fannie had 40% of securitized subprime in 2004, although that does seem like a huge share. The political economy is laid out quite clearly...the shmoozing lobbying etc......never let a crises go without using it....Fannie was at the heart, with socialized losses and private gains up the ying yang..could not be clearer....denying this linkage leaves us open to repeat the fatal experiment - pete Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:43:42 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9419 crashing the housing bubble in 2002 would have been "essentially costless?" Then where would have the "Bush Recovery" come from? All those awesome $30k-per-month mortgage broker jobs for coked-up frat boys--gone! All those Rinker 30s with twin 350 mags--unbought! All those tasteful McMansions unbuilt, and all those work crews--wherever they came from--unemployed at their $15-an-hour, 80-hour weeks! Ya know, $1200-per-week cash under the table is a pretty good living for a guy with no schoolin' and (maybe) no green card. You kill the bubble in 2002 and there's no end to the misery you cause for everyday idiots. To say nothing of the productive hedge fund and banker quant jobs you'd kill in their cribs. Stamford CT would have been ruined. Not on Greenspan's watch! - ed ericson Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:47:46 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9418 This is just a friendly reminder that Izzatzo is usually writing satire. - uwo Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:08:21 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9415 In response to izzatzo: Fannie and Freddie were not allowed to underwrite loans that were considered unaffordable, and rightly so. But Bush's HUD changed the definition of "affordable, as the WaPo reported: "How HUD Mortgage Policy Fed The Crisis" Washington Post June 10, 2008 "In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helped fuel more of that risky lending. Eager to put more low-income and minority families into their own homes, the agency required that two government-chartered mortgage finance firms purchase far more "affordable" loans made to these borrowers." In 2004 "President Bush's HUD ratcheted up the main affordable-housing goal over the next four years, from 50 percent to 56 percent. John C. Weicher, then an assistant HUD secretary, said the institutions lagged behind even the private market and "must do more." " In other words Bush forced Fannie and Freddie to compete with the Big Banks on buying subprime, not the other way around. - kye Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:20:09 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-discovers-that-it-was-all-fannie-maes-fault#comment-9413 [quote]These investment banks gobbled up the worst subprime and Alt-A garbage that sleaze operations like Ameriquest and Countrywide pushed on homebuyers. ... Fannie and Freddie were followers in this story ...[/quote] Brooks understands that economics is about trade-offs and if the investment banks had not taken the low hanging fruit first then Freddie and Fannie would have snapped it up anyway. It was expectations of this threat of government interference that drove the investment banks to push bad loans before the government could displace them. Stupid liberals. - izzatzo Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:17:08 +0100