Liberal Democrats Responsible for Financial Disaster : An Itimized List

Here is the head count for those that are responsible for the disaster that is our financial system.

Like I have posted in the past if this was a conservative problem Nancy Pelosi would have them all in orange jump suits and 'perp' walked into the committee chambers for all the world to see. She would grill them for weeks and the media would destroy them and their families with lies and fabrication.

This something to keep posted on the kitchen wall or on your refrigerator and memorize it so you can use it against the idiots on the left.

Keep the faith - itemized responsible



THANK 'BEST & BRIGHTEST' FOR CRISIS

By RAY KERRISON - New York Post
December 23, 2008

AN elderly neighbor of mine asks, "Have you noticed that the worst
economic crisis of our lifetime was set off by people with the highest
education? If they're all so smart, how come they're so dumb?"

I hadn't thought of it that way, but he has a point.

The meltdown began with the subprime-mortgage folly, when the political
establishment pushed the real-estate industry and its bankers to grant
mortgages to buyers who couldn't afford them.

The chief architects of the disaster were the officers at Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, urged on by politicians and monitored by negligent regulators.

Here's a list of some of the main players and their academic credentials:

*James Johnson*: He was Fannie Mae's chairman and CEO from 1991 to 1998,
boasting that the company was doing well and "serving a public function
at no cost."

It was then discovered that Fannie Mae had improperly deferred $200
million in expenses, allowing Johnson and his cronies to walk away with
huge bonuses. Johnson took down $21 million.

His credentials: A master's in public affairs from Princeton University,
later a member of its faculty.

*Franklin Raines*: Served as Fannie's chairman and CEO from '98 until he
took "early retirement" in '04, when he was accused of promoting massive
accounting shenanigans enabling him and others to earn huge bonuses.

Raines left with a $90 million payout. He set in motion the subprime
avalanche resulting in charges of "pervasive and willful" earnings
manipulation, lax controls, perverse incentives, unjust bonuses.

Raines is a graduate of Harvard Law and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.

*Jamie Gorelick*: Vice chairman of Fannie from '97 to '03, serving
alongside Raines. In an interview with Business Week in 2002, Gorelick
said, "We believe we are managed safely. Fannie Mae is among the handful
of top-quality institutions." A year later, regulators accused Fannie of
a $9 billion accounting scandal, of which she was a prime beneficiary.

She walked away with $26 million.

Gorelick's education: A BA (magna cum laude) from Harvard and a JS (cum
laude) from Harvard Law.

*Richard Syron*: Chairman and CEO of Freddie Mac until he was terminated
on Sept. 6. Like the rest, he made a killing while the ship was sinking
beneath him. In 2007 alone, he took home $19 million in cash, stocks and
other compensation.

Four years ago, Syron was warned by his own risk officer that Freddie
Mac was embracing too much risk underwriting shaky mortgages. He brushed
it aside.

Syron graduated from Boston College with a BA and earned advanced
degrees in economics (can you believe it?) from Tufts University.

*Rep. Barney Frank*: One of Fannie and Freddie's biggest boosters in
Congress. In 2003, when the Bush administration recommended tighter
regulation of the two companies, Frank rejected the idea out of hand,
saying: "They are not facing any kind of financial crisis." Famous last
words.

Frank graduated from Harvard.

*Sen. Chuck Schumer*: Second only to Frank in the Congress in his
unwavering support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Three years ago, when Fed chief Alan Greenspan warned of problems with
the two institutions, Schumer replied, "Fannie and Freddie have
problems, and there are ideologues who want to undo it. But there are
ways to fix the problems . . . When the sink is broken, you don't want
to tear down the house."

Last July, Schumer raised an alarm on the solvency of a mortgage bank,
IndyMac, setting off a panic among depositors, who withdrew $1.3 billion
from the bank. Financial analyst Jerry Bowyer charged that Schumer had
set off "the second largest bank failure in US history."

Schumer got his BA at Harvard and JD at Harvard Law.

*Sen. Chris Dodd*: The No. 1 recipient in Congress of campaign funds
from Fannie and Freddie. When they were about to crash with a thud heard
round the world, Dodd said, "They are fundamentally sound and in good
shape. To suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate."

Dodd has a BA from Providence College and a JD from the University of
Louisville.

The question arises: How could so many learned men and women, endowed
with so many honors from America's highest institutions of learning, set
in motion the financial catastrophe that now grips the nation?

Conclusion: The evidence here is overwhelming that a superior education
can certainly rake in big money - tens of millions of dollars, in fact -
but sadly it is no guarantee of competence, judgment, prudence, trust or
integrity.

Especially in politics.

Ray Kerrison has been a Post columnist for 20 years.