Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Latest Government Actions (NFC) [Ferrari Digest, Vol 26, Issue 27]

[Doug and Terri Anderson (dnt]

We start off with a question:

And where is Franklin Raines today?  He is a chief
economic advisor to the presidential campaign of Senator
Barack Obama.

And here is an answer:

Franklin Rains is the former chairman and chief executive
officer of Fannie Mae, the government sponsored enterprise
started in 1939 to offer mortgages to Americans wishing to
become home owners.  After serving as budget director under
President Bill Clinton, Mr. Raines served as CEO at Fannie
Mae from 2000 until 2004.  While Mr. Raines was CEO, Fannie
Mae went deep into the practice of buying mortgages based on
almost no or no money down given to borrowers who could not
afford them.  During this time he received bonuses and
salary over 90 million dollars.  In 2004 he was offered
"early retirement" after the accounting practices used
at Fannie during his tenure to secure top executive bonuses
were shown to be fraudulent.  Civil charges were filed
against Raines and two other former executives which sought
$110 million in penalties and $115 million in returned
bonuses from the three accused. On April 18, 2008, the
government announced a settlement with Raines
together with J. Timothy Howard,
Fannie's former chief financial officer, and Leanne G.
Spencer, Fannie's former controller. The three
executives agreed to pay fines totaling about $3 million,
which will be paid by Fannie's insurance policies.
When pressed by the Bush administration to tighten down
regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, members of
congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - in positions
to pass such regulations, did nothing.  Today, Fannie Mae
owns or guarantees over half of America's 12 trillion
dollar mortgage market, and we are in the middle of a credit
crunch and housing slump brought on in large part by
government backed Fannie Mae going down this dangerous
credit slope under Mr. Raines.

> From Wikipedia:
On July 16, 2008, The Washington Post reported that Franklin Raines had 
"taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on 
mortgage and housing policy matters." [6]. Also, in an editorial in August 
27, 2008 titled "Tough Decision Coming", the Washington Post editorial staff 
claimed that "Two members of Mr. Obama's political circle, James A. Johnson 
and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae."[7]

On September 18, 2008 John McCain's Campaign, in an ad critical of Obama, 
quoted the Washington Post to claim that Franklin Raines advises Barack 
Obama on economic matters. Both Raines and the Obama Campaign claim that 
Raines is not an Obama advisor and has never advised Senator Obama. [8]

Is Obama smart?  Sure seems so.  Is he a good speaker?  Pretty good with a 
prompter - and if he smiled at me and kept touching my knee when he didnt 
have one to answer my question - - - I'd swat him.  He gonna do that to 
Ahmadinejad?  Is he a charmer?  A+  Do I trust him to lead us?  Sure, but 
not were I want to end up.  Do I believe we will get change?  Ayep - Three 
dimes, 2 nickels and four pennies from my dollar an hour job.  Does he have 
experience?  Sure - he can write books and attract sycophants like candle to 
a moth.

Alas -

DOUG