Stern: Our government legalized fraud

Corruption, we have all been witness to the practice to previously unknown levels.

Ignore the hiring of a former governor known to lie directly to columnists for the very institution that hired him. Ignore increases in traffic citations during times of decreased tax revenues coast-to-coast.

I will even go so far as to ignore the obvious corruption in professional sports; I’m talking about systemic corruption at the highest levels of government.

In 2003, the incompetent Bush administration attempted to push Congress to create a new regulator over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the sizes of which could create a potentially dangerous situation should housing prices fall.

Care to guess which party-of-change objected?

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, provided several responses during those hearings you can find on YouTube. She not only called the leadership of Frank Raines “outstanding,” she also stated definitively her opinion they were trying to “fix what isn’t broke.”

Fast forward eight years, not only is Rep. Waters still allowed in front of a camera, but Democrats last week elected her, “Ranking Member of the Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee.” Far be it from me to criticize either of our two parties. Did we not learn enough lessons about electing incompetence in the last three presidential elections?

It gets worse, not only is Rep. Waters failing upwards – a common trend in the federal government – but the rest of our elected representatives in Congress, and the White House, are actively carrying out the legalization of fraud.

We all know housing prices went down like a – editor’s note: analogy deleted – but what we seem to have missed collectively is Congress’ hand in the inflation of the bubble as well as the hand job they gave to the bankers.

Let me be clear, this is both parties, and only a single digit number of representatives are not culpable.
Follow the bouncing ball.

Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992: This led to “innovative” loans, according to Rep. Waters, including desktop underwriting and 100 percent loans.

This act began pumping pure, organic methane into the housing bubble. As we are well aware, banks began using reckless loans, conning the poor, ignorant and illiterate – and middle class folks looking to move into upper class neighborhoods – into taking bad mortgages to buy dream homes they could not legitimately afford, etc.

Sometime in early 2007 the bubble burst. I happen to believe it was the sale of my home in Utah for a great deal more than I paid for it that burst the bubble; had my house sold a week later, it would have sold for $10-15,000 less.

“CON”gressional representatives have two problems with an economic crisis threatening to destroy banks. First, economic downturns result in ousted incumbent politicians. Second, you cannot very well take campaign contributions – bribes – from banks if they fail.

Thus, “CON”gress pays almost $800 billion in tax-payer money – not the federal government’s money, such a creature does not exist – to the banks with no oversight to spending.

Not only did they provide this golden parachute, but they allowed the banks to keep the original values of bad mortgages on their books.
What happens when you do not have to use the same accounting principles as private citizens? Fraud.

The banks continue – to this day – to keep their books cooked with mortgages worth far less in reality than they were originally. With no decrease in the value of their assets, what do you suppose happened to the money lent to them? Bonuses.

Corruption.