Fannie Problem News Today

For by fannie mae and freddie mac. we have an anecdote in the book about barney frank who was, you know, one of the housers theyre called, people who believe the noble idea of housing and expanding home ownership. but he sort of, you know, became very much a defender of fannie and all the way up until the end and fannie had donated money to a charity that his mother had co-founded, $75,000 over several years. he -- fannie mae -- he asked fannie mae to hire his partner to work at the company even...

Taxpayers own them. >> thats the size of the problem. >> i want more names, but josh, what is fannie mae and why is it central? >> it is a quasipublic, quasiprivate organization, a government-sponsored entity, created in the late 30s in the depression and pioneered the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. they were later joined by freddie mac, another government-sponsored entity, and they ended up being the largest individual buyers of subprime mortgage-backed securities. >> to the tune of hundreds of b...

To work at the company even as congress was crafting legislation. >> and, in fact, you know, theres this view that the fannie problem was a democrat, not a republican problem, and the truth was that you had republican senator kit bog who tried to prevent fannie and freddie from doing an investigation, tried to put language in to get them defunded. both sides of the aisle. >> where are they now? one of the points in the book is nobodys been punished. people are have not paid the price for their e...

Single out is a person whos really escaped scrutiny. james johnson. he was the ceo of fannie mae in the early 90s through 1998, 1999. this is a man whos escaped scrutiny except. for the end of the crisis when he was tagged with having taken some sweetheart loans from countrywide. but he was very central to the buildup that led to the crisis, to the expansion of fannie maes balance sheet, to the imperilment of the taxpayer. dont forget, $154 billion later, fannie and freddie, the taxpayers own th...

It was a special election, a swing district. medicare was the issue. the republican party lost. how does that make you feel? youre in a swing district also in new york, staten island in new york city. are you afraid of this medicare program right now? >> no. i mean, im not afraid. i also want to emphasize it was a third-party candidate. that had a lot to do with it. but its no question we have to message better. heres the reality. its easy for democrats to say we want to kill medicare. the probl...

Swing district. medicare was the issue. the republican party lost. how does that make you feel? youre in a swing district also in new york, staten island in new york city. are you afraid of this medicare program right now? >> no. i mean, im not afraid. i also want to emphasize it was a third-party candidate. that had a lot to do with it. but its no question we have to message better. heres the reality. its easy for democrats to say we want to kill medicare. the problem is its not true. obama car...

>> no. i mean, im not afraid. i also want to emphasize it was a third-party candidate. that had a lot to do with it. but its no question we have to message better. heres the reality. its easy for democrats to say we want to kill medicare. the problem is its not true. obama care changed medicare as we knew it, took over half a trillion dollars out of medicare, and put a 15-panel bureaucratic whatever together to decide what our seniors are going to have. i just cant allow medicare to go broke in ...

Here and for this marvelous new book. gretchen, you say that you name names, so lets name a couple. lets ask ceos. who were the ceos that you put in the top tier of those responsible for bad behavior in the financial markets? >> well, eliot, the first person that we really focus on and single out is a person whos really escaped scrutiny. james johnson. he was the ceo of fannie mae in the early 90s through 1998, 1999. this is a man whos escaped scrutiny except. for the end of the crisis when he w...

>> shes back after a season of reality tv. sarah palin returns to what she does best. >> wow. >> scaring the heck out of some republicans. >> tea party americans, youre winning. >> is she the king maker or the queen? and baseball and ponzi schemes. >> i got it, i got it, i got it! >> jeff toobin say the new york mets and bernie madoff used to be on the same team. can the mets survive and win again, or will they strike out? >> youre out of here! then, the financial meltdown. whos th...

let me ask you, dont you love your freedom? >> shes back after a season of reality tv. sarah palin returns to what she does best. >> wow. >> scaring the heck out of some republicans. >> tea party americans, youre winning. >> is she the king maker or the queen? and baseball and ponzi schemes. >> i got it, i got it, i got it! >> jeff toobin say the new york mets and bernie madoff used to be on the same team. can the mets survive and win again, or will they strike out? >> youre out of h...