freddie mac

Darrell Issa is like that kid who just made hall monitor and takes his duties a little to seriously. Here’s some of what Issa wants to investigate:

Issa, who will have power to subpoena government officials to appear before the committee, said he intended to conduct inquiries into the release of classified diplomatic cables by Wikileaks; recalls at the Food and Drug Administration; the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis; the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's failure to identify the origins of the meltdown; as well as business regulations and alleged corruption in Afghanistan.

Recalls by the FDA? I really hope he is going after Bush on that, since we had the most recalls under the former President.

Corruption in Afghanistan? The wires reveal that the corruption was going on way before we even had a President Obama. Again – you going after Bush?

Freddie and Fannie? Once again – that happened before Obama was President.

Wikileaks – OK I can buy that, but given the administrations response, I would say you are going after the victim and not the assailant.

And Issa isn’t stopping there. Instead he wants MORE investigations and is turning to special interest and big business to help conjure up some more items:

The incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee - in letters sent to more than 150 trade associations, companies and think tanks last month - requested a list of existing and proposed regulations that would harm job growth.

"It was a broad net that we cast," Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella said.

Paulson has announced he is spending an additional $600 billion to buy up toxic mortgages:

The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will purchase up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed assets, the toxic assets that have been weighing down embattled government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae (FNM: News ) and Freddie Mac (FRE: News ).

Buying troubled assets – what a novel idea! Isn’t that what TARP was for? Yes it was, but that moron Paulson decided to do something else. So we have $600 billion on top of the $700 billion approved by Congress. When will the hemorrhaging stop?

And John McCain does nothing but lie to the American people about it - the same American people expected to bail out these companies.

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee composed of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the coming midterm congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s his firm, Davis & Manafort, was kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who was widely expected by 2006 to run again for the White House.

Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafort for the duration of the campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to share in its profits.

So even though Davis took a "leave", he still profited from the company. If this isn't criminal, it sure as hell should be. John McCain should also be publicly flogged for this.

And they want this idiot to be our vice-President?

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

The economy is issue number 1 with voters and Sarah Palin just made a massive gaffe. Bundle that with Phil "whiners" Gramm and you got the making of an excellent campaign commercial. We need some good ads out by the Obama campaign and the script was just started - thanks to the ineptness of Sarah Palin.