Traci Gregory, Financier

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a conservatorship

According to the New York Times,Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed, and James Lockhart, met with Daniel H. Mudd, the chief executive of Fannie Mae, and Richard F. Syron, chief executive of Freddie Mac to let Mudd and Syron know they didn't have jobs anymore and that the Federal Government is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and placing them in conservatorship.

"The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.

"It is not possible to calculate the cost of any government bailout, but the huge potential liabilities of the companies could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and make any rescue among the largest in the nation’s history."

Read the entire article at U.S. Rescue Seen at Hand for 2 Mortgage Giants

You need to understand that their rescue is throwing your tax dollars away to fix their mistakes.  Your grandchildren will pay for this . . . And you probably should start thinking about buying foreign currencies . . .

I.O.U.S.A. the Movie

News from all over, again . . . indymac, bear stearns, fannie, freddie, and the beat goes on and on and on

New Yorker editor David Remnick said the provocative cartoon was intended to satirize those [Obama's religion and other] rumors and those who traffic in them. In fact, the New Yorker is a publication that would be inclined to support Obama. New York Gov. David Peterson, the state's first black governor, condemned the cover as "one of the most malignant, vicious" magazine covers he's ever seen. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called it "tasteless, Islam-a-phobic, mean-spirited and racially offensive." The Obama campaign early on called the cartoon "tasteless" and "offensive" and even Republican presidential candidate John McCain referred to the cover as "inappropriate." Judge for yourself - I don't care for it at all.
Lehman Brothers' CEO Dick Fuld is seriously mulling a way to take itself private and out of the public eye
	Back in the news, Indicted former Bear Stearns hedge-fund manager Ralph Cioffi has hocked houses in New Jersey and Naples, Fla. to secure a $4 million bond, but saved the Southampton digs for the family. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Sinclair the government is considering further criminal charges against two former Bear Stearns executives indicted last month related to the collapse of two hedge funds they oversaw.  In a court hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Sinclair said "the government is indeed contemplating additional charges." Reuters for full story And, check this out!! According to the New York Post, Cioffi would like to start an independent hedge fund and may have some investors lined up . . . wonder if they'll still be there in 20 years . . . .
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . . . End of Illusions.  The Econonmist has a series of articles detailing the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Now that we've jumped to trillions of dollars at their behest, surely the American Public will sit up and pay attention to what the federal reserve is doing to us by printing more and more money. Highly detailed, easy to understand . . . you should read every word. Hank Paulson, America’s treasury secretary, unveiled the emergency plan to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage giants that owe or guarantee $5.2 trillion.  He wants you to know how imortant it is so you won't mind paying for it . . . this isn't capitalization or free markets as we know them, this is nationalization and it will only create problems for the people who pay the bills.  That would be me and you . . .
The FBI had launched an investigation of IndyMac Bank for possible mortgage fraud shortly before the thrift was closed by regulators and placed into receivership, according to news reports. Fraud and they failed . . . they couldn't do anything right then could they?
Even though mortgage fraud for housing "doesn't seem quite as violent" as mortgage fraud for profit, it has its own consequences, according to a representative of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation's Bureau of Financial Investigations. Fraud for Housing is when a borrower commits fraud to get housing, as opposed to fraud for monetary gain. And that, my dears is life in my lane . . . I'm seriously thinking of Montana . . . horse, bedroll, rifle.  Sounds like the place to be to me!