XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, soc.support.fat-acceptance   
   From: hheh@rrat.com   
      
   "Mentally Ill Right Wing Booze Addict"  wrote in message   
   news:MPG.234c6a2d7de8447c98a0ee@nntp.aioe.org...   
   > Proteus  wrote:   
   > It's time to throw Bush and McCain under the Bus and cut our losses!   
      
   It's time for you to go fuck yourself.   
      
   ''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any   
   kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of   
   Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee.   
   ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on   
   these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''   
      
      
   The New York Times   
      
   September 11, 2003   
      
   New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae   
      
   By STEPHEN LABATON   
      
   The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory   
   overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a   
   decade ago.   
      
   Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency   
   would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of   
   Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the   
   two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.   
      
   The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to   
   set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would   
   exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine   
   whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning   
   portfolios.   
      
   The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie   
   Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in   
   outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July   
   concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors,   
   and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising   
   interest rates.   
      
   ''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for   
   housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor   
   the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and   
   importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the   
   House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary   
   Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.   
      
   Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to   
   appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less   
   concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential   
   political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the   
   companies.   
      
   The administration's proposal, which was endorsed in large part today by   
   Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government   
   subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit   
   guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into   
   financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at   
   significantly lower rates than their competitors. Nor would it remove the   
   companies' exemptions from taxes and antifraud provisions of federal   
   securities laws.   
      
   The proposal is the opening act in one of the biggest and most significant   
   lobbying battles of the Congressional session.   
      
   After the hearing, Representative Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the   
   Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the   
   Senate Banking Committee, announced their intention to draft legislation   
   based on the administration's proposal. Industry executives said Congress   
   could complete action on legislation before leaving for recess in the fall.   
      
   ''The current regulator does not have the tools, or the mandate, to   
   adequately regulate these enterprises,'' Mr. Oxley said at the hearing. ''We   
   have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting   
   practices went largely unnoticed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise   
   Oversight,'' the independent agency that now regulates the companies.   
      
   ''These irregularities, which have been going on for several years, should   
   have been detected earlier by the regulator,'' he added.   
      
   The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which is part of the   
   Department of Housing and Urban Development, was created by Congress in 1992   
   after the bailout of the savings and loan industry and concerns about   
   regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from lenders   
   and repackage them as securities or hold them in their own portfolios.   
      
   At the time, the companies and their allies beat back efforts for tougher   
   oversight by the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance   
   Corporation or the Federal Reserve. Supporters of the companies said efforts   
   to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their   
   ability to finance loans for lower-income families. This year, however, the   
   chances of passing legislation to tighten the oversight are better than in   
   the past.   
      
   Reflecting the changing political climate, both Fannie Mae and its leading   
   rivals applauded the administration's package. The support from Fannie Mae   
   came after a round of discussions between it and the administration and   
   assurances from the Treasury that it would not seek to change the company's   
   mission.   
      
   After those assurances, Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chief executive,   
   endorsed the shift of regulatory oversight to the Treasury Department, as   
   well as other elements of the plan.   
      
   ''We welcome the administration's approach outlined today,'' Mr. Raines   
   said. The company opposes some smaller elements of the package, like one   
   that eliminates the authority of the president to appoint 5 of the company's   
   18 board members.   
      
   Company executives said that the company preferred having the president   
   select some directors. The company is also likely to lobby against the   
   efforts that give regulators too much authority to approve its products.   
      
   Freddie Mac, whose accounting is under investigation by the Securities and   
   Exchange Commission and a United States attorney in Virginia, issued a   
   statement calling the administration plan a ''responsible proposal.''   
      
   The stocks of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell while the prices of their   
   bonds generally rose. Shares of Freddie Mac fell $2.04, or 3.7 percent, to   
   $53.40, while Fannie Mae was down $1.62, or 2.4 percent, to $66.74. The   
   price of a Fannie Mae bond due in March 2013 rose to 97.337 from 96.525.Its   
   yield fell to 4.726 percent from 4.835 percent on Tuesday.   
      
      
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