Duck Tape - Stat!

Sometimes, things in life beyond our own control are so senseless and infuriating that, as friend of mine, Pete Nastro, says "I need wrap my head in duct tape to keep it from blowing up!".

Unveiled today, part of this godawful Government-Stimulus-Package-for-Liberal-Interest-Groups is the $75,000,000,000 plan to "save" 7-9 million mortgages facing foreclosure. I'll even let go of the fact that these were either the most irresponsible or the speculative people who were at the core of this financial collapse. The reason why, our own government encouraged the irresponsible (the ones who borrowed what they couldn't afford) to do so. The speculators who were flipping houses, they are another story.

Its the part of expanding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that had me looking for the duct tape. If all of the money junkies were addicted to borrowing money they could not possibly afford to pay back when rates went up, its these 2 entities that were dealing the mortgage crack!

You see, ground zero of this entire mess was a politically correct agenda to lend money to poor people so they can own a home instead of renting their whole life. On the surface, this is a noble thing to do. Unfortunately, the way the government went about it could only end in catastrophe.

Forcing banks to end money to people with bad credit because they are a specific race is onerous overreaching of government power.

Encouraging banks and brokerage firms to sell securities on these shaky loans on the implication they are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by extension, the federal government is dishonest. Only when Fannie and Freddie were going to fail, did the government actually have to back the investments and end up owning most of the companies.

One needs to look no further back than 5 years ago to see the initial warning signs that not all was right in Government Sponsored Entity Land. The Bush Administration attempted to enforce stricter regulation on the mortgage giants, but were opposed by their defenders in congress. More specifically, Barney Frank and the 2 biggest beneficiaries in congress, mortgage cheat Chris Dodd and the new Fresh Prince of the White House. These are probably the 3 most responsible people for today's economic crisis. Even after Fannie Mae's accounting scandal that made Enron's look like a cash register mistake (yes, I just cited my own blog from 4 years ago!), it still had its staunch defenders in congress making their best efforts to block any oversight.

Also, this article from the WSJ about Barney Frank's lies throughout the years about the stability of Fannie Mae can give you an idea what was going on. The man belongs in jail, not congress!

Anyway, back to the duck tape part, despite the disastrous consequences of Government Sponsored Entity malfeasance and corruption on the US economy, part of the $75,000,000,000 bail-out-the-irresponsible mortgage plan is to EXPAND the size and power of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!

So, while millions of Americans are out of work and responsible mortgage holders are struggling; Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, The New Messiah and millions of others who didn't pay their bills are sitting pretty right now! This is not the America I though I knew all my life folks, this is Bizarro World!