This weekend Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be placed in a government conservatorship that closely resembles a bankruptcy reorganization. The move puts U.S. taxpayers on the hook for $5.4 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt and commits the government to provide as …
Heritage’s James Sherk says the employment estimates for August are being affected by the collapse of the housing bubble and the high cost of energy. The unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, a five-year high, primarily the result of large job losses among automobile manufacturers. He talked about the August employment …
In 2004, after a tip from a whistle blower who was later fired, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) issued a report finding that the government-sponsored entity Fannie Mae had engaged in Enron-like accounting machinations that allowed Fannie to overstate its earnings and underestimate the risk the company …
The latest news out of Capitol Hill is that the Senate will take up legislation enacting a much needed update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), pushing final passage of the mortgage bailout bill back until after the July 4th break. This should give Senators some much needed time …
Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) may not know what interest rates currently are, but the Wall Street Journal has crunched the numbers and estimates that the discount loan Countrywide Financial gave him will save him $75,000 in mortgage payments. The WSJ also looked into how much of the …
As bad as the incestuous relationship between Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) and Countrywide Financial is, it probably is not even the worst part of the housing bailout compromise in Congress. At least the Countrywide bailout would be a one-time theft of taxpayer money (although this bailout would increase risky behavior …
Despite the fact that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) now admits he was a Countrywide Financial “VIP” since 1993, Congress is still barreling ahead with the $300 billion housing bailout bill that Dodd sponsored. The important thing to remember as the debate over this massive bailout continues is that this bill …
Yesterday Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) became the first member of Congress to call for an investigation into the relationship between Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) $300 billion bailout of Wall Street lenders like Countrywide Financial, and the below-market rate loans Dodd received from Countrywide. Hensarling may be the first member of …
Jim Johnson, the man recently chosen by Sen. Barack Obama to search for a VP candidate, is under fire for receiving millions of dollars in below-market loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. chief executive Angelo Mozilo. Private entities like Countrywide are free to give generous loan agreements to whomever they want, …
Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) authored a bill (with 11 co-sponsors, including Sen. Barack Obama) that was incorporated into a housing bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee 19-2 before the Memorial Day recess — a bill that creates a national fingerprint registry. According to a Martinez …
