There is a 1976 movie starring Peter Finch as a slightly off kilter TV anchorman that contains one of Hollywood’s more memorable sequences. It is a scene that may resonate with Americans today.
On his farewell broadcast after being fired, Finch’s character goes on a rant and shouts, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” His words strike a chord, and soon viewers across the country follow suit, hanging their heads out of windows and chanting Finch’s words.
Americans today could be forgiven if they expressed the same sentiments about the nation’s financial mess, and the trusted companies and institutions that have brought it on. People from the West Coast, Midwest farms, Northeast fishing villages and Southern small towns, folks all over the country, are tired of the greed and mismanagement on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms.
Where is the common sense and self control? Where is the smack down of the law?
So, who can blame the working Americans and retirees who are furious about the golden parachutes top executives of failed companies are receiving? And to add insult to injury, the $700 billion bailout Washington is pondering to get the nation back from the brink of economic disaster will be financed by you know who – the taxpayer.
Fed up? Feel like sticking your head out the window and shouting? It’s a mess, no doubt about it.
Register your feelings about what the nation should do. Let others know how you feel by voting in the Daily Journal/Daily Messenger’s Web poll found at http://www.upstatetoday.com, write a letter to the editor, send in a Tell Willie or comment about this editorial online.
We’re mad. Are you?
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September 23, 2008
10:53 p.m.Report inappropriate content
Yes, I'm mad too! Angrier than I have ever been. Completely disgusted with the current administration and not willing to let even one penny of my tax dollars be spent on a golden parachute. I am sick that we have become so apathetic as a nation and am ready to stand up and shout. Any suggestions as to how?
September 24, 2008
8:23 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Let us not forget where the root of these problems lie. The following is an excerpt from a Bloomberg article:
"What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.
Different World
If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.
But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.
That such a reckless political stand could have been taken by the Democrats was obscene even then. Wallison wrote at the time: ``It is a classic case of socializing the risk while privatizing the profit. The Democrats and the few Republicans who oppose portfolio limitations could not possibly do so if their constituents understood what they were doing.''
Mounds of Materials
Now that the collapse has occurred, the roadblock built by Senate Democrats in 2005 is unforgivable. Many who opposed the bill doubtlessly did so for honorable reasons. Fannie and Freddie provided mounds of materials defending their practices. Perhaps some found their propaganda convincing.
But we now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years.
Throughout his political career, Obama has gotten more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, second only to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, who received more than $165,000.
Clinton, the 12th-ranked recipient of Fannie and Freddie PAC and employee contributions, has received more than $75,000 from the two enterprises and their employees. The private profit found its way back to the senators who killed the fix.
There has been a lot of talk about who is to blame for this crisis. A look back at the story of 2005 makes the answer pretty clear.
Oh, and there is one little footnote to the story that's worth keeping in mind while Democrats point fingers between now and Nov. 4: Senator John McCain was one of the three cosponsors of S.190, the bill that would have averted this mess."
September 24, 2008
11:31 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Eddo, Since Democrats have historically been the party of regulation, something struck me as very odd about the content of this article. After researching for a bit, I would suggest that you do further research as well. In brief, S.190 and the companion House Bill HR.1461 were killed by Republicans who were in majority at the time, 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, 1 Independent. HR.1461 initially had strong bipartisan support in the House until a number of Republican sponsored amendments led to a majority of votes against the bill.
The American Enterprise Institute (a conservative think tank) was strongly against the bill, as was President Bush. Links: http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22...
and: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index....
Here is also a link to a Washington Post article on John McCain's history of Deregulation. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
It is true that Obama, Clinton and Dodd received more Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributions from employees (you know, the "little people"). However,the New York Times has published a separate list looking at contributions from directors, officers, and lobbyists for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the 2008 campaign cycle. That list, using figures from the Federal Election Commission, shows McCain receiving $169,000, while Obama received only $16,000. Source, my favorite fact checking site:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/...
Finally, there is more than enough blame to go around for all of the financial messes. But don't we owe it to ourselves to look for all of the facts, even if they don't mesh with our own world view?
September 25, 2008
8:14 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Fjeld And eddo, you are correct. For the past eight years Republicans in Congress have been in the forefront of attempts to more closely regulate the Fannie and Freddie.
September 25, 2008
8:28 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Fralene:
Here are some data to consider.
From USA Today, 25 Sep 08
DONATIONS TO SENATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Member Party State Chair, subcommittee chair or ranking member Total contributions Financial services contributions Percent finance contributions of total
Dodd, Chris, chairman D Conn. Yes $43,344,186 $13,163,356 30%
Shelby, Richard C., ranking member R Ala. Yes $20,741,533 $4,240,502 20%
Johnson, Tim D S.C. Yes $16,364,546 $2,782,143 17%
Hagel, Chuck R Neb. Yes $8,408,360 $1,610,616 19%
Schumer, Charles D NY Yes $46,362,049 $12,793,446 28%
DONATIONS TO HOUSE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Member Party State Chair, subcommittee chair or ranking member Total contributions Financial services contributions Percent finance contributions of total
Frank, Barney, chairman D Mass. Yes $7,800,282 $2,430,361 31%
Bacchus, Spencer, ranking member R Ala. Yes $8,478,461 $3,579,199 42%
Kanjorksi, Paul D Pa. Yes $6,526,370 $2,718,472 42%
Pryce, Deborah R Ohio Yes $9,644,584 $2,805,109 29%
Maloney, Carolyn D N.Y. Yes $8,206,424 $2,390,461 29%
And I invite you to read the following:
New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By Stephen Labaton
September 11, 2003
"But there is no mention whatsoever of the following from the New York Times in September of 2003 and this is why the credibility of most of the media is at risk because they slant the story to say what they want it to say and not even try to give an overall truthful picture:"
The full text may be found at:
http://bellalu0.wordpress.com/2008/09/17...
And this from Reuters, July 23, 2005
"Earlier this year, a House committee passed a bill to stiffen regulation of the companies, but the White House has called that legislation too weak and Mr. Greenspan said it would be better to have no legislation at all than to push forward with the House bill."
Full text at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/busine...
And some interesting reasons as to why another regulatory bill failed at:
http://www.swordscrossed.org/node/2425
And now we have 3 major Democrats involved in bailout legislation: Chris Dodd, Charlie Shumer, and Barney Frank. The contributions to those three from Fannie and Freddie add up to $28,387,163! You can bet that if they have their way, things aren't going to change much (unless, of course, they try to atone for past failures).
Didn't have the time to go to all the web sites you quoted, and couldn't get one of them to open.
September 26, 2008
8:48 p.m.Report inappropriate content
Eddo, there is no doubt that Democrats and Republicans have profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac among others. And how about John McCain's campaign manager who has continued to receive $15,000 per month as a "consulting fee" from Freddie Mac until July of this year? But really, what's your point? We've been hearing for years about the problems with these agencies. Why wasn't anything done? For 6 years we had a Republican President, a Republican controlled Senate and House. And you think Democrats killed S.190? ROFLMAO
I have to hand it to you for making me do my homework. It was difficult because most of the information out there was from slanted partisan web sites who haven't bothered to do the research.
From the Library of Congress - Chuck Hagel wrote and sponsored S.190 on 1/26/2005. There were two cosponsors initially, Senator Elizabeth Dole and Senator John Sununu. John McCain came on board as a cosponsor on 5/25/2006.
The bill languished in the Senate Banking committee while a similar bill, HR.1461 was being passed in the House. Senator Bill Frist never took S.190 to the Senate floor and President Bush was dead set against the similar HR.1461, calling it too weak. So where was John McCain? What happened to make him jump on board this bill sixteen months after its introduction?
On May 23, 2006, Fannie and Freddie's regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, issued the results of their 27 month long investigation of Fannie Mae. The report was widely reported in the news and was scathing in its criticism of Fannie Mae. Two days later, John McCain cosponsored S.190 and made his speech on the Senate floor. Opportunistic? Certainly. Still, nothing happened. S.190 never made it out of committee and all old business was swept away with the entrance of the new Congress in 2007.
Also from the Library of Congress, 6 bills were initiated in 2003-2004 attempting to regulate the housing agencies. None made it out of committee. Count 'em - six.
On July 31, 2007, after the Democrats obtained control of the Congress in the November 2006 election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced HR.3221, a "bill to provide needed housing reform and for other purposes." Among other things, the bill granted the newly formed Federal Housing Finance Agency "supervisory and regulatory authority over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the federal home loan banks.
Pelosi's bill became Public Law 110-289 on July 30,2008.
Now I haven't researched this new law, so make no claims about it. It's your turn for homework if you wanna.
Ken, I read a lot of your posts and just shake my head. You make these absolute statements with no facts to back them up. You remind me of a grammar school bully.
October 1, 2008
11:30 a.m.Report inappropriate content
fralene, on Ken's behalf, & You remind me of an un-informed "Know-it-All". You like to quote from some websites where you read your Democratic self-indulgent Junk, and try to force it down our throats as facts. We aren't buying, and that is a fact that I'll back up.
October 12, 2008
9:06 p.m.Report inappropriate content
odj, sorry for the delay, but I just checked back in on this site. Talk about uninformed "know it alls". If you bothered to read all of my post you would have seen that the information on the bills in question came from the Library of Congress, which is neither junk nor self indulgently Democratic, although it is very dull reading. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't use obviously partisan web sites for my information. I still manage to stay very well informed.
October 12, 2008
10:48 p.m.Report inappropriate content
fjeld, if you are just mad enough now to do something then you were part of that apathetic public that allowed things to get this bad but it's better late than never.
It no longer matters who's at fault there's enough blame to go around, the fact is we're where we are thanks to CEO's, Congress, Paulson, Bernanke and you, Joe Sixpack who needed that fancy house, those fancy cars, boats and other toys without earning it first. Everyone is saying the public was duped into getting that easy credit, don't y'all have a brain? Everyone in Congress who received kickbacks from Fanny and Freddy should be criminally prosecuted, everyone in Congress who voted for this bailout should be criminally prosecuted, all the CEO's who are walking away with millions should be criminally prosecuted, Paulson and Bernanke should be criminally prosecuted. George Bush should be criminally prosecuted for several reasons including this. If I had walked into a bank and said give me all your money or all hell is going to break loose, I would go to prison, why should Paulson, Bernanke and Bush not go to prison for doing the same thing?
fjeld, you ask what we can do now, virtually nothing, vote them all out in Nov for starters but American's do not stick together on anything, everyone is madder than hell but there will be no changes come election day except for President and if the Democrats still control Congress then we're looking at more debt added. We have sat back idly letting the govt bring down this country and have done nothing.
For those who don't recognize the following excerpt, it's from the Declaration of Independence. This was written back when people had guts not like today when most can't see beyond their white picket fence.
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."