Fannie and Freddie and the art of Hypocrisy

I have seen it in my own neighborhood and you probably have too. People quickly and quietly packing up their houses, putting everything they can in cars, trailers and trucks, suddenly leaving the neighborhood they called home. Why were they doing this, because they were being foreclosed upon.

The market crash of 2008 was one of the worst that this country has seen in a couple of generations. Today, we are still suffering the repercussions of that crash. Many people are still out of work, many houses sit empty due to foreclosure and 401K’s were greatly diminished. The reason, or much of the reason for this is due to the gross mismanagement of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

I was reminded of this topic while going through my emails and looking at an e-newsletter I had received from Lacy Clay. His letter read as such:

Thank you for reading another edition of my e-newsletter.

In the wake of our nation’s current economic crisis, I strongly support the establishment of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to hold big banks and Wall Street accountable. Congress must ensure that taxpayers will never again be forced to bail out big banks and huge firms because they are "too big to fail."

Financial reform is vital to ending the reckless schemes and outrageous abuses that nearly caused a second Great Depression and contributed to millions of Americans losing their jobs.

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I am committed to working with my colleagues and President Obama to adopt strong, common sense rules that will protect our economy and working families.

Honest and transparent financial reform will help create a stronger financial sector so that small businesses can get loans, families can get affordable mortgages, and entrepreneurs can create the jobs of tomorrow.

Consumer financial protections are currently spread across seven different government agencies. Our objective is to create one single Consumer
Financial Protection Agency -- tasked with preventing predatory practices and
making sure you get the clear information you need to understand your personal
finances.

You can learn more about the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that I strongly supported by clicking here.

For additional information on Financial Reform and many other topics, please visit my website at http://lacyclay.house.gov/.

It is a great honor for me to represent your interests in Congress. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts and concerns. I value your views, as your input helps me to better represent the people of Missouri’s 1st District.

Sincerely,

Lacy

Re-reading this, I had to laugh to myself as he is trying to talk of economic reform and ending the reckless schemes that hurt our nation. It was with great amusement, then, that I stumbled across this you-tube video featuring Lacy and several other Democrats railing against those trying to create oversight over Freddie and Fannie.



I find it funny that Lacy and others try and make this into a racial issue rather than deal with the facts from those that know what they are talking about. While not coming out and saying those suggesting oversight were racist, they used words like “..the political lynching of Franklin Raines” and such. This is the standard move by Democrats when they cannot discuss things using logic or are proven to be wrong, throw out the race card.

Now, of course, the Democrats want to point the blame at the Republicans for all of this. They talk about how this could have been avoided when the Republicans had control if they really knew there was an issue. Never mind that even Bill Clinton had concerns about the size and power of Fannie and Freddie. This is just pure hypocrisy on their part; complain about wanting regulation and then when things fall apart, blame those who tried to implement it for not doing so. That said, the Republicans do have some blame in this. They could have pushed more to get something done. Yes, the called for regulation, but did not really push the matter as far as it could have gone. In this case, the Democrats were the obstructionists that created much of the mess we are in now.

This is just another thing for everyone to think about when it comes time to vote. Sure, they are claiming they are for oversight now, but where were they before the crisis? I am sure this is another question that Lacy does not want to have to answer at a town hall or a debate.