The Meltdown

So everybody has been affected by the meltdown, at least everybody with either a mortgage or investments in the stock market. And we all wonder, "what is the root cause?" I believe one gentleman from a financial forum I read pins it to the special interest lobby of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

Fannie [Mae] and Freddie [Mac] had such powerful lobbyists that no attempt to reform or regulate Fannie and Freddie could make it through Congress. In all fairness, there were a number of Republican Senators and Congressman who have been sounding the alarm for at least 15 years. They knew it was only a matter of time before the taxpayer would have to bail them out. They were voices crying in the wilderness. There was no way to stop such large special interests. Fannie and Freddie spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying congress. Is there something inherently wrong with that? Government sponsored enterprises spending millions to lobby the government?

So, who were the lamebrains obstructing reform?

Since 1989, 534 individual legislators recieved money from Fannie and Freddie. Who recieved the most? Chris Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the Senator who had a couple of special arrangements with Countrywide, Fannies biggest customer. Who was second in line? A newcomer, who had only been in congress for three years, the junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, who now blames Bush for the problem, and says he's going to run a different kind if Washington, free of special interests. There's a sucker born every minute.

Change you can believe in? So long as you believe, "The more things change, the more they stay the same".