Fannie/Freddie National'z'n-Obama people sat in, contributed; McCain's didn't, want reprivitization

[HamdenRice]

The nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were among the most important structural economic transformations any administration has undertaken in the post war era.

According to DemocracyNow, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson was concerned that he was making commitments that would extend well into the next administration, and so he invited the economic and finance people of both the Obama and McCain campaigns to sit in as the new structure was hammered out.

According to economist and New School instructor Max Fraad Wolff, speaking on DemocracyNow, he believes that the Obama people attended and "maybe contributed," while the McCain people "couldn't attend":

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/9/us_bails_out_fannie_mae_freddie

MAX FRAAD WOLFF: Well, the Treasury was certainly there. OFHEO, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the group that’s done such a stellar job in regulating Fannie and Freddie over years past, they were there. Some representatives of various other government agencies, the Office of Thrift Supervision, Office of the Controller of the Currency, and select members of the House and Senate, as well as, at least by his stories, Obama’s people were in the meeting and were at least allowed to sit in, possibly to contribute. I believe—and I don’t know if this is correct—that McCain’s people were not there but were also invited.

AMY GOODMAN: So the campaigns were invited to be part of this. Why?

MAX FRAAD WOLFF: The senior financial markets and economic people. Well, because a lot of what this, again, bailout does is kick the can down the road. So despite the fact that Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, has said that he’s very happy to have not passed this forward, it’s such a large series of commitments were made on Sunday, and they’re so ambiguous that this is going to be an issue going forward as more money is spent and more actions are required deep into the next administration.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what do you mean, McCain people weren’t there?

MAX FRAAD WOLFF: As far as the story that I heard, both parties were invited, but McCain’s people were unable to attend.

<end quote>

Combine this lack of interest in the restructuring of trillions of dollars of mortgage debt with the presposterous gaffe by vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, that Fannie and Freddie had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers" -- apparently she was unaware that until the nationalization, the federal government did not contribute tax revenue to the institutions -- and you begin to get a fully rounded picture of a possible McCain administration virtually devoid of interest or competence in macro economic management, just as the country faces its worst economic crises since the Great Depression.

But this is trivial compared to the proposal made by Presidential hopeful John McCain today -- namely, that McCain proposes to reprivatize Fannie and Freddie as soon as possible. In other words, he wants to bail out the companies and return them to private hands so that they can get into exactly the same kind of activities that almost brought down the world financial system:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a1ujoLiLLz78&refer=us

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain and Barack Obama agree the Treasury needed to step in to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They disagree over how much the U.S. government should be involved in the housing market once the immediate crisis is past.

Republican Senator McCain of Arizona wants the government to take over the two agencies, split them up, and then exit the mortgage-finance business by selling them off. Democratic Senator Obama of Illinois is suggesting a more lasting federal involvement.

...

McCain is clear on what he wants to do. He backs a solution put forward by former Federal Reserve Chairman and fellow Republican Alan Greenspan that would break the companies up and sell the pieces off.

...

Jason Furman, Obama's top economic adviser, attacked McCain's privatization plan as ``hasty'' and ``ideological.''

<end quote>

So McCain wants to pump billions in to save these companies and then sell them off?

To whom?

[kestrel91316]

1. To whom? CINDY.