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.
