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BZZZ wrong.. Bush didnt take over AIG, and Fannie and Freddier were already GSE's, but Bush wanted to shrink their size well before the economic collapse.. Democrats said there wasnt any problem and there was no need to stop them from expanding. and Tarp was a LOAN, thats not socialism..
Someone needs to go back and review the definitions of words..
Bush pushed Fannie and Freddie very hard to make more and more loans. This started in earnest during 2001. He even pushed the FHA to relax their standards, and give up on the nonsense of the down payment and all that stuff. If you'd like, I'll look up the links to Bush's speeches, statements, and policy announcements on the subject.
As far as takeovers?
Perhaps this will jog your memory a bit. It mentions the takeovers, all of them through that date.
Bush pushed Fannie and Freddie very hard to make more and more loans. This started in earnest during 2001. He even pushed the FHA to relax their standards, and give up on the nonsense of the down payment and all that stuff. If you'd like, I'll look up the links to Bush's speeches, statements, and policy announcements on the subject.
As far as takeovers?
Perhaps this will jog your memory a bit. It mentions the takeovers, all of them through that date.
This was 2003.. The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
And the AIG was an investment (which I disagreed with) which returned a profit to the taxpayer because overnight borrowing CEASED due to increased standards. Overnight borrowing is how corporations fund their operating expenses.. Its not that AIG was broke.. they just couldnt borrow to meet their day to day demands.. They had LOTS of assets, which is why they returned a profit to the taxpayer..
Vt.. here is HEARINGS that were held to try to reduce the size of Fannie/Freddie and Democrats continued to call Republicans crazy for saying there was going to be a bubble that will burst
What happened back then with the two lenders, is that Bush wanted to place Fannie and Freddie under agency control of the Treasury, and the Dems wanted Congressional oversight to continue. I slightly favored Congressional control, because as we all know, agencies under Presidential control can be rather sinister and cyclical.
I'm also forever confused over statements calling for hedging, when Republicans fought successfully for years against government oversight of those markets. Still do as a matter of fact. Bush from the get go was pushing the ownership society, and was constantly on the road stating that those agencies had to do more to fulfill their charters, which was lending money at lower costs.
What seemed liked good intentions, really only amounted to a power struggle between the Legislative branch and Congressional factions. FNMA and GNMA overwhelmed the opposition with massive lobbying, and even a public campaign. When the stuff really hit the fan, the President said this was just a Speed Bump.
Aside from the political power struggles between branches of government, there remains another key question. Why is less regulation, not more, being asked for by those that continually seek to control those two entities? GNMA and FNMA are probably going to be unwound from government oversight in a few years time. Naturally, this will increase borrowing costs. But it will also create more risk in the bond markets.
So after all of this baloney about who did what to whom, in the end, nothing is really changed. People pay far too much attention to partisan rants from both sides that are are really just fighting for power.
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