$1.5 trillion with a ‘T’

Here's one reason why Obama kept saying didn't want to steal Tim Geithner's thunder last night and talk details on the financial sector buyout. The headline is the pricetag: $1,500,000,000,000. Ow. I think I just got a repetitive-motion injury for hitting all those zeroes.

Now we're talkin' some REAL money. Of course, it brings up the question: If making credit flow better is worth THAT, then why is it so important to keep the stimulus plan for the whole rest of the economy under a Trillion?

Seems to me the magic number isn't so magic any more.

15 thoughts on “$1.5 trillion with a ‘T’

  1. Lee Muller

    Because the first bill is just pork spending for local Democrat projects, not a stimulus bill. It is to stimulate the Democratic Party, ACORN, the unions, lobbyists, and deadbeats who revel in hurting anyone “richer” than themselves.
    This is not the end of it. The Democrat Mortgage Scandal is huge. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Spratt, Jim Clyburn, Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, Jamie Gorelick and others lied about the balance sheets. They need to be prosecuted.

  2. p.m.

    There ought to be a law against newspaper editors getting all their news from the New York Times.
    Having bought America’s minorities with someone else’s money, are the Democrats about to buy America’s bankers the same way?

  3. Lee Muller

    Watch for the bail out of the NY Times and other newspapers.
    The media lapdogs are about to be put on a leash.

  4. Brad Warthen

    Two of those links are to the NYT; one is to the Motley Fool. Make of that what you will.
    Actually, I had started to link you to a Washington Post story that told in advance what Geithner was GOING to do — they had a scoop on the $1.5 trillion thing — but by the time I got to it the news was out and I ended up using NYT. It doesn’t make much difference to me where the story’s from, the important thing is the who-what-where etc.
    And if you want to complain about what I read besides The State, I would think you’d complain about the WSJ. I actually read that the most — I get it at home (the NYT refuses to deliver on my side of the river). As for editorial stuff, I almost never look at the NYT editorial pages. I have to read the op-ed pieces anyway looking for copy for our pages, but I read those on the wire, not in the paper. They also move all their editorials on the wire.
    But I look at the WSJ editorial pages — none of which moves on any wire — daily. I’ve particularly gotten into the habit of reading the book review they put there every day. All in all, I enjoy it. I read whatever I haven’t read in The State each morning, then turn to the Journal.
    You won’t find me trying to LINK to the Journal as much for routine news because I think it’s not as freely available to nonsubscribers as the NYT is. That’s my understanding, anyway. So what I read the most and what I link you to are not the same things…

  5. p.m.

    Pardon me, Brad. I just get tired of the New York Times asking me to join it to read one of your links.
    I don’t wanna join the Times. I’m afraid they’ll put me on Obama’s mailing list.

  6. Greg Flowers

    This is not the end of it. The Democrat Mortgage Scandal is huge. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Spratt, Jim Clyburn, Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, Jamie Gorelick and others lied about the balance sheets. They need to be prosecuted.
    Lee, I have no idea whether the above is true or not as there is no documentation. Accusations without documentation come off as screeds.

  7. Lee Muller

    The documentation is in the undisputed facts reported for years in the financial press.
    – FNMA and FMAC were run by Obama advisors, who took over $300,000,000 combined bonuses.
    – Rahm Emmanuel collected $16,000,000 in bonuses.
    – Jamie Gorelick collected $20,000,000 in bonuses.
    – In 2006 and 2007, the boards of FNMA and FMAC published annual reports showing billions in profits, when they had actually lost billions. They lied to cover up a mortgage collapse during the 2006 elections, and collected bonuses on nonexistant profits, which is a felony.
    – After reporting the losses in private to the House Banking Committee, Barney Frank, John Spratt and others stated that FMAC and FNMA were sound. They lied.
    – Joe Biden was the lead legislator in protecting the credit card industry from regulation. Most of the card companies are headquarted in his state of Delaware, and they are the main financiers of Biden’s political career.
    Please go research the fraud, Mr. Flowers, then get back to me and let’s discuss it.

  8. Greg Flowers

    I do not dispute I merely enquire. Why would Democrats control two huge quasi-governmental agencies during eight years of a Republican administration? Can you please point me to a specific source (publication and time frame) for your numbers? I do not recall seeing them and am surprised that, if true, they would not have become a more public part of the public debate as Fannie and Freddie foundered.
    Keeping testimony to a House or Senate Committee is always difficult (even the Intelligence Committee). Why would Spratt and Frank lie about this? Spratt in particular, while I disagree with a great majority of his politics, has always seemed to be regarded as a respectable individual.
    As to the boards of the two organizations cooking the books, again, why is this not more publicly known and where, specifically, may I go to read more about it?
    There are few people who have less regard for Joe Biden than I but if every politician who advocated positions supporting campaign contributors, particularly when those contributors were a part his constituency’s largest industry was swept away the halls of power would be empty.
    I do not deny a word of what you say but only ask for specific sources for your specific allegations.
    Lastly, I am a lifelong conservative/ libertarian who has voted Republican the vast majority of the time, but cannot, in any honesty allege that moral lapses when they do indeed occur, are limited to one end of the political spectrum.

  9. Lee Muller

    Clinton set this thing up and appointed 60% of the board members who oversaw the looting.
    FNMA and FMAC got away with it because they were to tardy in delivering audits. They did not report their 1998 bonuses until Sept 22, 2004.
    1998 Salary and Bonus of Senior Fannie Mae Executives
    Officer Title Salary AIP Award/Bonus
    James A. Johnson Chairman and CEO $966,000 $1,932,000
    Franklin D. Raines Chairman and CEO Designate $526,154 $1,109,589
    Lawrence M. Small President and COO $783,839 $1,108,259
    Jamie Gorelick Vice-Chairman $567,000 $779,625
    J. Timothy Howard EVP and CFO $395,000 $493,750
    Robert J. Levin EVP, Housing and Comm. Develop. $395,000 $493,750
    Congress knew of the fraud because the audit agency notified them of it in 2006, going back to 1997, and demanded a refund of bonuses.
    OFHEO Wants Fannie Mae Bonus Money Returned
    Mortgage News Daily
    Jun 15 2006, 07:00 AM
    http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/6152006_Fannie_Mae_Bonuses.asp
    Recipients of Fannie and Freddie Campaign Contributions, 1989 to 2008 from the FEC in Sept 2008.
    (Note: Barack Obama is the number two recipient, but had only been in the
    Senate for the last three years. )
    Christopher Dodd, D, $165,400;
    Barack Obama, D, $126,349;
    Robert Bennett, R, $107,999;
    Spencer Bachus, R, $103,300;
    Roy Blunt, R, $96,950;
    Paul Kanjorski, D, $96,000;
    Christopher Bond, R, $95,400;
    Richard Shelby, R, $80,000;
    Jack Reed, D, $78,250;
    Harry Reid, D, $77,000;
    and Hillary Clinton, D, $76,050.
    The total list contains 353 names. Total contributions to Congress was $4,844,572.
    Congress knew the mortgage fraud was going on because the oversight agency reported that the books were cooked and demanded a return of bonuses by the boards of FNMA and FMAC.

  10. Greg Flowers

    OK, thanks. As I understand it the agencies used an abnormally large reserve fund to cushion losses. Congress found out sometime in 2006 and nationwide concern was apparent within a matter of months leading to the Federal conservatorship. What are the sources for the #300,000,000 in bonus money for the boards, $20,000,000 for Gorelick and $16,000,000 for Emmanuel?

  11. Greg Flowers

    OK, thanks. As I understand it the agencies used an abnormally large reserve fund to cushion losses. Congress found out sometime in 2006 and nationwide concern was apparent within a matter of months leading to the Federal conservatorship. What are the sources for the #300,000,000 in bonus money for the boards, $20,000,000 for Gorelick and $16,000,000 for Emmanuel?

  12. Lee Muller

    The data is in the 211-page report issued by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
    The Wall Street Journal explained how FNMA and FMAC cooked the books to understate losses, and moved cash in an out of a sub rosa slush fund to temporarily conceal losses and inflate profits in order to maximize their bonuses.
    Fannie Mae Enron?
    Wall Street Journal
    OCTOBER 4, 2004 page A16
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB109684359646434797.html?mod=Review-Outlook-US
    I added up the bonuses which the OFHEO demands refunds for fraud, and the total is way over $300,000,000. Kicking back $5,000,000 to Congress to look the other way was chump change.
    I posted the list before the banking collapse, and will find it, update it and post it again.

  13. Greg Flowers

    Thanks, I will check these out. I referenced the reserve fund you mention in the above post. Where can one reference the OFHEO report? The $20,000,000 figure for Gorelick and the $16,000,000 figure for Emmanuel will be found in that document?

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