From today's Patriot Post:

 "Much of that mess [in the financial markets] is due to the very
people we are now turning to for solutions--members of Congress. Past
Congresses created the hybrid financial institutions known as Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, private institutions with government backing and political
influence. About half of the mortgages in this country are backed by these
two institutions. Such institutions--exempt from laws that apply to other
financial institutions and backed by the implicit promise of government
support with the taxpayers' money--are an open invitation to risky
behavior. When these risks blew up in their faces, Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac were taken over by the government, costing the taxpayers billions of
dollars. For years the Wall Street Journal has been warning that Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac were taking reckless chances but liberal Democrats
especially have pooh-poohed the dangers. Back in 2002, the Wall Street
Journal said: 'The time for the political system to focus on Fannie and
Fred isn't when we have a housing crisis; by then it will be too late.' The
hybrid public-and-private nature of these financial giants amounts to
'privatizing profit and socializing risk,' since taxpayers get stuck with
the tab when high-risk finances don't work out... Both Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac have been generous in their contributions to politicians'
political campaigns, so it is perhaps not surprising that politicians have
been generous to them. This is certainly part of 'the mess in Washington'
that Barack Obama talks about. But don't expect him to clean it up.
Franklin Raines, who made mega-millions for himself while mismanaging
Fannie Mae into a financial disaster, is one of Obama's advisers."
--Thomas Sowell

Hasn't Obama been talking about change?

Ed

-- 
"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is
to fill the world with fools." --Herbert Spencer
Linux User# 416016
Linux Machine# 385029

--- Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 (X11/20080925)