So I've been battling these right wing emails for years, typically writing detailed responses for my friends and family in rebuttal to these anonymous and typically misleading half-truth laden propaganda pieces.
Recently, the following has been popping up with more frequency, and this one is the latest and most refined, which I received this morning. Clearly it contains cherry picked info to position the current economic crisis as exclusively the fault of the folks who are currently said to be Barrack's chief economic advisers.
Normally, I'd do the leg work and sift through this myself, but I'm freaking busy....too busy. Plus, I'd be surprised if I were the only one receiving these things and more surprised if someone here has not already done the work or could not provide a quick link with better info to better understand this issue. So puh-lease....if anyone's got something digestible, please lay it on me so I can fire this back into the right wing machine from whence it came. Thanks in advance.
The following is fact and not in dispute. Every word has been taken from company records, government agency records, court records and newspaper articles at the time.
Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have brought
down Wall Street.
Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae.
Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, ' Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that 'mistakes were made' and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years.' Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion. Raines left with a 'golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear.
http://housingdoom.com/...
The Government noted, 'The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements a nd inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner.' These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.
Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard 'was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a 'stable pattern of earnings' at Fannie. In everyday English - he was cooking the books . The Government Investigation determined that, 'Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae, On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earn ings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004.
Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!
Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later
forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of
Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report
<http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/FNMSPECIALEXAM.PDF>on
mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some
interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had
hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public,reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million.' Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.
Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
FRANKLIN RAINES - Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic
Advisor
TIM HOWARD - Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama
JIM JOHNSON - Johnson is Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to
run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee
OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS -
Would you trust the men who tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall
Street?