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Special Report
Your Taxpayers’ Money at Work
Big bucks on offer for new speechwriter at Fannie Mae.
Sing, O Muse, of Fannie and Freddie — those two great financial titans who did so much to bring about the financial meltdown of 2008 and the unending Great Recession.
Tell us of the funny business of how Fannie and Freddie passed out campaign contributions left and right (but more to the left than the right) and how hard they worked to undermine banking standards and to encourage the banks to make hundreds of billions of dollars of home mortgages that may never be repaid.
Tell us again of how Fannie’s CEO’s, James A. Johnson and Franklin Raines, made themselves immensely rich in engineering this whole catastrophe… and how their two biggest sponsors in Congress — U.S. Senator Christopher Dowd of Connecticut and Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts — had the temerity (when the Democrats had large majorities in both houses) to put their names on a 2,319-page “financial reform” act that all but guarantees future bailouts for big financial institutions. For liberal Democrats concerned with public policy, there can never be too much of a bad thing.
The rescue of the two government-sponsored mortgage giants that went into government conservatorship in September 2008 has already cost taxpayers $134 billion and it could grow to as much as a trillion. According to the Wall Street Journal, that makes Fannie and Freddie “the biggest bailout in American history” — exceeding the GM, AIG and Citibank bailouts.
Nevertheless, Fannie Mae execs are prepared to pay well for hired help in crafting the speeches that will call for the federal government to continue to cover an unlimited amount of losses in years ahead. Here is a help-wanted ad sent out to speechwriters:
Fannie Mae is seeking experienced internal communications professionals who have at least 6 years of experience for two Communications Specialist positions. Salary is in the low 100s and the position is located in Washington, DC. Qualified candidates will have the following:
• Leadership/influencing skills; can influence highest levels of the organization; shapes business outcomes.
• Communications skills; great instincts to shape senior executives thinking, guide communications planning, strategy; flawless execution.
• Messaging/writing; excellent news/executive writing skills; great message development.
• Must have and demonstrate experience writing internal communications for senior executives such as CEO, COO, CFO … (more along the same lines)
Send resumes to:
Annette Barnes
Senior Recruiter
Fannie Mae, Talent Recruiting Center
Just think: If the new person is paid $125,000 and has a spouse who earns an equal amount, together they will qualify as millionaires and billionaires under President Obama’s soak-the-rich tax scheme that starts at couples earning $250,000.<
Typically, an incoming speechwriter will search the company archives for examples of what worked for his predecessors in serving their masters. But that was when Johnson and Raines were espousing damn-the-torpedoes, full-speed-ahead lending to people of unknown or proven bad credit worthiness. Though it won’t be of much use to the new guy, there are buried gems like this one from a speech by Raines in May 2000:
“What Congress did turned out to be absolutely brilliant — it created a system that harnesses private enterprise and private capital to deliver the public benefit of home ownership. And it maximizes this public benefit while minimizing the public risk, and without spending a nickel of public funds.”
Nowadays, the best that Fannie Mae execs can do is to rhapsodize over how they are trying to make things a little easier for over-extended borrowers, even if their efforts come at the expense of over-extended taxpayers — who are, in fact, being asked to make up for the mistakes of others who acted in a less prudent and responsible manner.
So while you are at it, O Muse, you might try to save a little inspiration for the new scribe at Fannie Mae. This paragon of “flawless execution” has chosen (or will have chosen) to join a sinking — or really, an already sunken — ship.
About the Author
Andrew B. Wilson, a frequent contributor to The American Spectator, writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Andrew B. Wilson
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.4.11 @ 7:00AM
They left one qualification off the list.
"Must know how to spell "hundreds of billions " and must not get bored writing it over and over."
Moe Blotz| 11.4.11 @ 7:36AM
Instead of reading more on today's American Spectator, I will fire off a missive to my congressman about the vortical mortgage houses.
hardcard| 11.4.11 @ 8:52AM
This is not a new revelation of corruption in government please read : "Reckless Endangerment" by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.
David W| 11.4.11 @ 9:11AM
Another qualification left off - either must have no soul or be willing to sell it (in order to be able to put together lies that will help continue to screw the American taxpayer and line the pockets of a corrupt Congress-pseudo-man).
Michael Tomlinson| 11.4.11 @ 10:05AM
I have the perfect man for the job a marketing expert who is ready and willing to say whatever he must to get what he wants -- Herman Cain.
Honkies for Herman| 11.4.11 @ 10:20AM
Is that how Mr.Cain became CEO of Godfather's Pizza?
cicero| 11.4.11 @ 11:19AM
The real question is why has no one gone to jail yet. Raines took about $90 million for his tenure at Fannie; Johnson took about $48 million; and Goerelick stuffed about $24 million down the from of her panty hose while walking out the door. Not bad for a few (4 to5) years worth of desk sitting.
All of this was known in 2004-2005 when Congress fined Fannie $400 million for cooking its books so that the above outrageous amounts could be paid to these theives.
Unless and until someone is held accountable, I cannot believe that our fearless leaders are serious about the peoples' business. We are looked upon as a giant cookie jar.
Well folks, we are about down to the crumbs.
axbucxdu| 11.5.11 @ 11:37AM
"...The real question is why has no one gone to jail yet."
Look up the Triffin Dilemma. Basically, it states that every counterfeited FRN must return to the counterfeiter. Therefore, those dollars have to be laundered by the issuing sovereign: in our case, the USG. So how can these notes be converted into investment assets, that at minimum, preserve the the FRN's original purchase value? Why enter Fannie and Freddie, of course. Enforcing the laws as you suggest would focus unwanted attention on these two organizations and the investors that buy their assets. Compared to the crooked racket in fiat money, Raines is small fry.
Oldefarte| 11.4.11 @ 12:38PM
Raines/Frank and Co should be placed in jail for their criminality; but they only ADDED TO the mess and didn't create it. The beginning was the CRA of 1977, which effectively forced banks/financials to loan/mortgage to financial indigents. It's commonly referred to as HOUSING-GOVERNMENTAL WELFARE, and it's paid for/financed by TAXPAYERS. Other forms of governmental welfare are not nearly as destructive to our economy as the housing variety, since the prices of houses represents a huge financial amount [and the government's defecit/debt is a direct result of same]. Automobiles can be sold to indigents, and when they default on payment, same can be repossessed and re-sold; but not houses [due to their huge price tags and the solvency-turnover issue]. And whose idea was this housing welfare of 1977 in the first place? Answer: the DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLITICIANS, who politically provide governmental welfare to obtain the votes of its recipients, that's who!!!!!
JoeSchmuckatelli| 11.4.11 @ 1:21PM
Unfortunately, Joseph Goebbels is unavailable.
cicero| 11.4.11 @ 4:19PM
While the mortgage problem was there, it was not primarily responsible for what happened. Only about 4% of the mortgages nationwide were problamatical. I believe they are being used as a scapegoat to keep everyones' eyes off of the apple. The real problem was the major banks and investment houses gambling on the mortgage derivative market with money they did not have. When you tie that little game to the govt. imposes "mark to market" accounting rules, you had a train wreck in the making. Once the banks refused to loan interbank against the mortgage backed derivatives, that put their value at zero. They wewre all marked to market. That caused all of the mortgages used as collateral to be worth zero for accounting purposes. In effect, they caused themselves to be considered worthless.
The fact that they all were so solvent that they could pay the TARP I monies back by April, 2009, (after Congress changed the accounting rules back to Standard Accounting Principles) should have been instructive.
Our government bailed out the BANKERS, and put the cost on the back of the taxpayers. The price of this fraud was the devaluation of the real estagte market, when all at once there were no b uyers. What don't they know or remember from Econ 1?
Go back a few weeks, in the WSJ Saturday interview of Robert Lucas. It is there for anyone who wants to see it. It is easier to blame it on the bad mortgages, which on their own would have not caused the debacle.
Oldefarte| 11.4.11 @ 5:21PM
Although your arguments are intelligent and partially accurate, you're obviously Democrat-partisaned position is false. Giving away houses/real estate to indigent buyers/purchasers [which is essentially what the Democrat politicians in charge of government achieved beginning in 1977] is a recipe for economic/financial disaster. The surprising part is only that it took 30 years to explode into our current situation. As you indicate, the bundling/wrapping of mortgages into salable bonds added to this fiasco, but the initial government enforcement of regulations constraining banks to give away mortgages to financially unqualified was the match that ignited to barn that eventually burnt to the ground. In response to this, banks/financials were forced into designing financial products in order to deal with same in an attempt to make money/profits; and the results were 'creative financing', no down loans, no verify income mortgages etc. If the age old 20% down payment, 30 year fixed mortgages would have been allowed to remain the standard, we wouldn't be in this economic mess right now. Quit blaming wall street for reacting to Democrat politicians desire for housing welfare in 1977!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 11.4.11 @ 5:26PM
PS: Washington had to bail out the bankers, because Washington was originally at fault for forcing those bankers to grant underwriting faulty loans to begin with; and if same banks hadn't been bailed out, every bank in this country would have had to close [and your, mine and every other depositor's checking/savings accounts would have been worthless]!!!!!
Valdis Gailitis| 11.5.11 @ 11:38AM
Just a quick correction, it should be Sen Christopher Dodd, not Dowd.
Marc Jeric| 11.5.11 @ 9:00PM
Frank and Dodd and all the executives past and present of Fannie and Freddie should be given 20 years in maximum security jail; not to forget the secretaries of HUD!
Niniane| 11.6.11 @ 1:01PM
Undoubtedly, Obama will point to this and exclaim that this is just proof of another job saved by his stimulus. With this success, he will again try to get more stimulus money, saying that he should really have spent more the first time.
POST American| 11.7.11 @ 2:35AM
------The US dollar has LOST 96%
of its value since the establishmentof the
ILLEGAL, private, offshore 'FED'.
-------------------FACT----------------------
And even putting aside the set up and
empowerment of Bolshevism from 1918
onward ---
"The Federal Reserve has pumped so
many BILLIONS into --(NAZI)---
Germany that they dare NOT name the total."
RE. Charles McFadden
1935
(the very height of the FED
instigated 'Great Depression')
NOW ------think RED China
-------------------think TREASON
------------------------THINK FAST
-------------------------------REAL FAST----------------