'Ya' think?' Department

Hitting the wires this evening: FBI Investigating Potential Fraud by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, AIG.


Wasn't this supposed to happen, say, back in 2004 when the original, Clinton-era crimes were exposed (Washington Post: Report Slams Fannie Mae)?

...Though it didn't quantify the effect of what it called pervasive misapplication of accounting rules on the company's books, the report by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight cited one instance in 1998 where the company inappropriately deferred $200 million of estimated expenses, which enabled management to receive full annual bonuses. Had Fannie recorded the expenses in 1998, no bonus would have been paid, the report said.

Management in the late nineties included Clinton operatives Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick and Jim Johnson. Otherwise known as Barack Obama's economic advisory team.

This set of creeps sucked down nearly $200 million in compensation in only six years. And taxpayers are left holding the empty shells that they raped and pillaged.

Oh, and for my progressive readers who claim Raines and Johnson aren't advising Obama: take up your quarrel with the Washington Post.

• The Washington Post, 7/16/08: “In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae’s chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case’s D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health-care companies and more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters.”
• The Washington Post, 8/28/08: “In the current crisis, their biggest backers have been Democrats such as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (Mass.). Two members of Mr. Obama’s political circle, James A. Johnson and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae.“

Oh, and "progressives": these weren't lobbyists, they were running the show.

Update: Yep, that's the same Jamie Gorelick who played an enormous role in 9/11 (she's often referred to as "The Mistress of Disaster"; I hear that's the term she prefers).

Linked by: Fausta. Thanks!