Election 2008
wuerker cartoon
Nov 18th
Found this interesting cartoon on Politico.com. Click on it to see my flickr page with annotations.
mortgage crisis ramblings
Sep 8th
The subprime mortgage crisis is one of the more interesting topics I’ve been following. Hank Paulson and the Bush administration have taken what some consider ‘drastic’ steps to ease the situation. Here’s a few things I’ve learnt:
Hank Paulson is of course, the current US Treasury Secretary. He was sworn in on 2006 and succeeded John Snow.
In July 2008 he announced a plan to help bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Interestingly these are ‘formal nicknames’. They are also officially known as the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) respectively.
Both corporations are in fact, GSEs – or government sponsored enterprises.
Fannie Mae was created as part of FDR’s (a Democrat) New Deal program in 1938. It served to create the secondary mortgage market.
In 1968, LBJ (again, a Democrat) privatised part of Fannie Mae. In 1970 this became Freddie Mac.
As GSEs they have access to a line of credit from the Treasury, are protected by the Government and are exempt from some oversight and local taxes.
Just recently Hank Paulson announced a plan to bail out the two and put them back in control of the Government.
Paulson’s plan created the new FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency – with James B Lockwood III as head. The plan puts Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in a conservatorship under the the FHFA.
An intervening Government is unusual for a Republican administration.
HR 3221 kicked off a number of steps to help relieve the mortgage crisis. One of these was the creation of the FHFA.
HR 3221 appears to have been voted along party lines.
HR 3221 was sponsored by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. It passed Congress 241-172.
It passed in the Senate 48-46.
Clinton, Obama, McCain all appear to have not voted for the measure – at the time of voting we can assume they were caught up in the Presidential Primaries.
election musings for june
Jun 30th
So a few months on and Obama is the presumptive nominee. Obama leads double digits in some polls, and single in some. Why the disparity? Differences are explained on CQPolitics.com. Short answer – certain pollsters tend to oversample Democratic voters than Republicans.
Who will be VP? Dream ticket of Obama/Clinton? Possible, but not likely. She brings a lot of baggage to the White House, and governing with Bill around the corner in the West Wing would be a nightmare.
CQPolitics.com and CNN takes a look at possible VP picks. When does a VP candidate get picked? Edwards was picked on July 6 2004, but the Democratic National Convention was late July. This time around it’s in late August. Obama and McCain will probably pick someone early August. Timed just right so that it misses the Beijing 2008 media coverage.
On June 13th, Tim Russert sadly passed away. One of the most respected political journalists, Russert’s Meet The Press was the real litmus test for all politicians. I recall staying up at 4am to catch it on Monday mornings. Thank god they ultimately offered the show for download. The US House of Representatives passed a resolution in dedication to Russert. Colbert on MTP - one of the lighter moments. @ 1:54 seconds Russert brings out Bert from Sesame Street!
I end today’s post with Today Show’s Matt Lauer’s memories of Tim:
Go Bills!