Maxine Waters at it again

Today I read an article where Maxine Waters stated "It's time for the bully pulpit of the White House to bring the gangstas in, put them around the table and let them know that if they don't come up with loan modifications and keep people in their homes that they've worked so hard for, we're gonna tax them out of business," Waters said at an event in Los Angeles."  You can read the article here.

This just goes to show just how out of touch our politicians are.  Let's take a look at who is responsible for the housing crisis.  According to this article,  "The proposals of Acorn and other affordable-housing advocacy groups were acceptable to Fannie. Fannie had been planning to use the carrot of affordable-housing lending to maintain its hold over Congress and stave off its efforts to impose a strong safety and soundness regulator to oversee the company. (It was not until 2008 that a strong regulator was created for Fannie and Freddie. A little over a month later both GSEs were placed into conservatorship; they have requested a combined $112 billion in assistance from the federal government, and much more will be needed over the next few years.)"  HELLO! Our government is responsible for the mess with the housing problem.

Now there are reports that say "the U.S. government is planning to sue some of the country's largest banks over mortgage-backed securities they sold that lost value in the housing market collapse, alleging they misclassified their quality".  Read the article here.

Personally, I think before the government sues anybody, which will end up costing US more money, they should clean up their own house.  The politicians involved should be held accountable, in my opinion.  Barney "Frank had championed housing for America's poor for four decades, but he gained the chance to leave his biggest mark in 2007 when he became chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He dreamed of tapping into the riches of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - at the time, both fabulously successful mortgage finance companies - to help pay for the construction of thousands of affordable apartments."  Read more on that here.

Let's look at the history of Fannie Mae according to Wikipedia: "The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), colloquially known as Fannie Mae, was established in 1938 by amendments to the National Housing Act^[6] after the Great Depression as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Fannie Mae was established to provide local banks with federal money to finance home mortgages in an attempt to raise levels of home ownership and the availability of affordable housing.^[7] "

"In 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. The Act amended the charter of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reflect Congress' view that the GSEs "have an affirmative obligation to facilitate the financing of affordable housing for low-income and moderate-income families."^[15] For the first time, the GSEs were required to meet "affordable housing goals" set annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and approved by Congress. The initial annual goal for low-income and moderate-income mortgage purchases for each GSE was 30% of the total number of dwelling units financed by mortgage purchases^[16] and increased to 55% by 2007."

"In 1999, Fannie Mae came under pressure from the Clinton administration to expand mortgage loans to low and moderate income borrowers by increasing the ratios of their loan portfolios in distressed inner city areas designated in the CRA of 1977.^[17] Because of the increased ratio requirements, institutions in the primary mortgage market pressed Fannie Mae to ease credit requirements on the mortgages it was willing to purchase, enabling them to make loans to subprime borrowers at interest rates higher than conventional loans. Shareholders also pressured Fannie Mae to maintain its record profits.^[17]"  

Why aren't heads rolling in Washington?   Could it be that they can't "police" themselves because of the "power" they hold?  Any politician who is this out of touch should not be in Washington.  Clean up your own house before asking the taxpayers to pay for your mistakes.  Stand up and take it like a man or woman should.  Just because you are a politician shouldn't mean you are above the law.  Our government will never clean up their house.  It is up to us.