[johnwk]

Obama is correct when he states that the economy is a pressing issue. But Obama runs and hides and makes things up when questioned about his direct involvement with ACORN, (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), and ACORN’s involvement in the Freddie/Fannie melt down, which is the worm at the root of our nation’s pending economic situation. Are we to ignore Obama’s involvement with ACORN when talking about our nation’s current economic condition, when ACORN’s foot prints are everywhere to be found at the beginning of the Freddie/Fannie story ? I think not!

Obama has whined and dinned our ears to his dedication as a "community organizer", but he has left out the particulars of his organizing which ultimately resulted in tens of millions of high risk mortgages being handed out, and are now in default and a primary factor in our current economic calamity.

To understand Obama’s involvement in our current economic crisis one needs to recall ACORN’s shakedown tactics being applied to local banks, literally forcing them to lower mortgage loan standards for individuals without the necessary financial means to secure mortgage loans.

A primary actor in ACORN’s intimidation tactics to secure undeserving mortgage loans was Madeline Talbott, who worked hand in hand with none other than Barack Obama, the Community Organizer, and delightfully had him train her shakedown staff.

But, to put this whole thing in perspective, I suggest you read: O'S DANGEROUS PALS

BARACK'S 'ORGANIZER' BUDS PUSHED FOR BAD MORTGAGES

By STANLEY KURTZ
September 29, 2008

IT would be tough to find an "on the ground" community organizer more closely tied to the subprime-mortgage fiasco than Madeline Talbott. And no one has been more supportive of Madeline Talbott than Barack Obama.

When Obama was just a budding community organizer in Chicago, Talbott was so impressed that she asked him to train her personal staff.

He returned to Chicago in the early '90s, just as Talbott was starting her pressure campaign on local banks. Chicago ACORN sought out Obama's legal services for a "motor voter" case and partnered with him on his 1992 "Project VOTE" registration drive.

In those years, he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago's banks.

More than that, Obama was funding them. As he rose to a leadership role at Chicago's Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation's board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers - and Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift.____ click on above link for the full story!

So, Mr. Obama, let us talk about the economy which you seem eager to talk about and enlighten us to your involvement in planting the seeds which spawned the Fannie/Freddie melt down.

As to McCain and the Keating 5, see:Senate Inquiry In Keating Case Tested McCain

The cloud of scandal did not lift until Nov. 20, 1991, when he was exonerated by the Senate Ethics Committee after an investigation that included weeks of televised hearings. The committee found that Mr. McCain had ''exercised poor judgment'' in attending, with four other senators, two meetings with federal banking regulators, but it found no improper action on his part.

JWK

If we can make 51 percent of America’s population dependent upon a federal government check, we can then buy their vote, keep ourselves in power and keep the remaining portion of America’s working population enslaved to pay the bills ____ Obama’s game plan, a plan to establish a federal plantation on American soil.

[Krusty]

Originally Posted by johnwk 

So, Mr. Obama, let us talk about the economy which you seem eager to talk about and enlighten us to your involvement in planting the seeds which spawned the Fannie/Freddie melt down.

Good lord you're desperate. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY ties the Fannie/Freddie meltdown to events that occurred in 1992 or 1995. Even the anti-Obama people tie it to the loosening of mortgage standards which, at the earliest, began at the end of the 90s but the real critical changes that made the sub-prime crisis take off didn't even begin until the rebound of the dot-com meltdown (e.g. circa 2002). Your use of the the phrase "planting the seeds which spawned" is the dead giveaway that you are talking about things that are so far removed from the current crisis that a positive causal link between the two can't be reasonably made. Put it this way, if Acorn did what it did in 1992 and 1995 but the the mortgage standards weren't loosened in the early 2000 years, would the crisis have occurred ? No, of course not. I could argue that the invention of banks which loan money to buy homes "planted the seeds which spawned" this crisis and it would make more sense than your assertion because if mortgages were never invented, there is no way there could have been a crisis.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by johnwk 

Obama is correct when he states that the economy is a pressing issue. But Obama runs and hides and makes things up when questioned about his direct involvement with ACORN, (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), and ACORN’s involvement in the Freddie/Fannie melt down, which is the worm at the root of our nation’s pending economic situation. Are we to ignore Obama’s involvement with ACORN when talking about our nation’s current economic condition, when ACORN’s foot prints are everywhere to be found at the beginning of the Freddie/Fannie story ? I think not!

Obama was active with ACORN around 1992, well before the mortgage standards were loosened (by Clinton), or regulation was lifted entirely (by Bush). Obama had nothing to do with irresponsible activities at Fannie/Freddie.

[zerostar]

This is getting better every day.

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Obama was active with ACORN around 1992, well before the mortgage standards were loosened (by Clinton), or regulation was lifted entirely (by Bush). Obama had nothing to do with irresponsible activities at Fannie/Freddie.

Why do you think that they gave more cash dollars proportionally to Obama than any other Senator currently serving?

Why didn't Obama support the attempts to impose stricter regulations on F&F (that McCain DID support) back when he had the chance and the Democrats where doing everything to block them?

Why would he choose ex F&F heads for advising his campaign?

Seriously, Obama has a lot of nerve suggesting McCain had ANYTHING to do with this mess.

[Ghoser777]

I thought the mess had to do with more than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by stupendousman 

Why do you think that they gave more cash dollars proportionally to Obama than any other Senator currently serving?

Richard Hohlt, Fannie Mae's lobbyist, has raised $250,000 for McCain.

Now I profess not to know how much Fannie Mae has donated to Obama. Do you have that number?

Originally Posted by stupendousman 

Why didn't Obama support the attempts to impose stricter regulations on F&F (that McCain DID support) back when he had the chance and the Democrats where doing everything to block them?

Think about when that came up in the senate, and then get back to me...

Originally Posted by stupendousman 

Why would he choose ex F&F heads for advising his campaign?

Seriously, Obama has a lot of nerve suggesting McCain had ANYTHING to do with this mess.

You should wiki "Rick Davis".

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Think about when that came up in the senate, and then get back to me...

Yet another example of how little experience Obama has!
[/sarcasm]

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Richard Hohlt, Fannie Mae's lobbyist, has raised $250,000 for McCain.

Great. One of Fannie's CEO's was on of Obama's direct advisers while Obama was getting mega cash from F&F itself.

Great try though!

[Mithras]

I love when this guy posts.

[tie]

I just wanna bang my head into the wall with all the stuff Obama gets away with! I know it's God's plan but UGH!!!!!!! It an be very frustrating I also read that this incident with Keating really affected McCain and it is why he became known as a reformer. I truly believe that John McCain WANTS to do what's right for Americans and Obama WILL ONLY to do what's best for Obama.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by stupendousman 

Great. One of Fannie's CEO's was on of Obama's direct advisers while Obama was getting mega cash from F&F itself.

Great try though!

You probably should look up Rick Davis before you go much further with this...

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

You probably should look up Rick Davis before you go much further with this...

Rick Davis. The guy whose company used to get lobbying money from an organization that included F&F and Habitat for Humanity and other lending institutions, but who has done no work on behalf of them for years, but at the time he did work for them McCain pushed for more regulation on F&F. It's amazing the amount of influence these guys had on McCain (who got no money from F&F) when he was looking for ways to rein in F&F.

Again, a couple of guys who worked for lobbyists who have worked for McCain but didn't seem to influence him much, versus the VERY CEOS WHO RAN F&F INTO THE GROUND and the CANDIDATE GETTING CASH DIRECTLY from F&F in greater proportion than any other Senator, all the while having a history of being involved with a group putting pressure on banks to give risky loans to people who can't afford them, and doing NOTHING to support legislation to rein F&F in.

Again...nice try.

You guys should try your hands at non-political comedy.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by Krusty 

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY ties the Fannie/Freddie meltdown to events that occurred in 1992 or 1995.

Oh boy, where to start. First, the Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 77 or 78, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act around the same time, and that's where the community activism got its ability to effectively protest banks in the first place, at least with respect to mortgage lending availability. CRA has been modified at least a dozen times since then (in various bills) in an effort to make mortgage lending "more fair." At a minimum, the HUD demands to FHA/Freddie/Fannie starting with Cuomo's leadership there in the mid-90s is linked to this, and it turns out that the House banking bunch had conflicts of interest there as well.

So...above the board (discounting political bias and side deals) the housing dilution got its kick way back when. Bush was on board too -- see the initiative discussed in June 2002 for putting more people into homes they couldn't afford.

Congress set up lending protests as a money pump for the Left in this country starting in the 70s. Saying that it doesn't go that deep is either disingenuous or plain ignorant. While you're drinking the Kool-Aid, read a little.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by stupendousman 

Rick Davis. The guy whose company used to get lobbying money from an organization that included F&F and Habitat for Humanity and other lending institutions, but who has done no work on behalf of them for years, but at the time he did work for them McCain pushed for more regulation on F&F. It's amazing the amount of influence these guys had on McCain (who got no money from F&F) when he was looking for ways to rein in F&F.

He's McCain's campaign manager

He stopped working for the lobby in 2005. Guess what his next job was?

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

He's McCain's campaign manager

...and?

One of Obama's top advisors was F&F CEO who MADE MILLIONS (40?) and had to drop out after it was found he got bribes from now bankrupt (due to the same things that brought down F&F) Countrywide Mortgage (along with other Democrats). Obama himself got HUGE DOLLARS from them - more proportionately than any other person in Congress. Obama HIMSELF was at one time in charge of training people to put pressure on banks to give loans to people who couldn't afford them while people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd (who also took bribes) assured us that F&F weren't engaging in anything risky.

...and the best you can come up with McCain's current campaign manager used to be a lobbyist who had a client who was an organization which F&F were members, but for some reason this guy couldn't persuade McCain not to call for increased regulation on F&F and McCain HAS NOT gotten any significant donations from F&F?

Please...pull my other leg. The one you've been tugging on is getting a little sore.

[stupendousman]

For the final response, let's diagram this:

OBAMA:
Top advisors ACTUALLY RAN F&F, and ran them INTO THE GROUND. Made MILLIONS

MCCAIN:
His campaign manager once worked for the guys who advised Obama. Made thousands.

-----------------------------------------------------------
OBAMA:
Did nothing while in office to avert the crisis. His fellow party members assured us that all was well.

MCAIN:
Tried to increase regulation on F&F - blocked by democrats
-----------------------------------------------------------

OBAMA:
Used to work training people to pressure banks to give loans to those who can't afford them

MCCAIN:
Had no direct part in getting loans for undeserving applicants
-----------------------------------------------------------

OBAMA:
Received proportionally more campaign funds from F&F than any other member of Congress

MCCAIN:
I'm not sure he's gotten ANY contributions from F&F.
-----------------------------------------------------------

If this is really the game you guys want to play, you've already lost.

[Chongo]

Raines made over $90 million,

[johnwk]

McCain needs to talk about the economy and with specific reference to our current financial melt down!

The seeds of today's financial meltdown lie in the Community Reinvestment Act - a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.


CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in "subprime" loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.


Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has complied with CRA - and approval can be held up by complaints filed by groups like ACORN.


In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America's financial institutions.


Banks already overexposed by these shaky loans were pushed still further in the wrong direction when government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began buying up their bad loans and offering them for sale on world markets.


Fannie and Freddie acted in response to Clinton administration pressure to boost homeownership rates among minorities and the poor. However compassionate the motive, the result of this systematic disregard for normal credit standards has been financial disaster. _________ CLICK HERE for the full story

As we find out, the engine behind our current Fannie Freddie melt down began in the 1990’s when Madeline Talbot, a close friend and business associate of Obama, worked together with ACORN who started to use intimidating tactics to literally force banks to hand out sub prime mortgage loans to individuals who were not financially qualified to payoff these loans. The charge of “racism” was successively used as one of ACORN’s most powerful weapons to gain these high risk sub prime loans which Freddie and Fannie were literally force to buy! A specific Clinton policy required half of Freddie and Fannie loans to be sub prime loans, and which culminated in our current economic crisis in which the pensions and life savings of prudent hard working Americans have been stolen. And who do we have to thank, Obama, his friend Madeline Talbot, and the socialist ACORN gang which is now working to steal the election and put a socialist democratic party in power over the United States of America!


And let us not forget the above does not even take into account Obama’s pals in Congress like Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, Maxine Waters , and other democrat socialists who blatantly stood in the way of proposed legislation to regulate Fannie and Freddie sub prime loan hand outs.


McCain needs to talk about the economy and point to Obama’s direct association with ACORN, Madeline Talbot a “community organizer” which started the slippery slope with high risk mortgage loans being handed out to people without the financial means to meet their payments. Another good article on this issue is O'S DANGEROUS PALS


The unadulterated truth is, Obama had his hand in starting the financial melt down engine [high risk loans] which we are now paying for through the nose. And Obama wants to talk about the economy? He’s very muchresponsible for our economy’s current condition!


JWK

[johnwk]

Wake up America, this is what our Socialist Democrat Party has been doing to win elections.


First they get “poor people”, most of whom do not pay taxes, registered to vote via ACORN. And then they buy these “poor people’s” vote by promising to loot the federal treasury. They promised to give “poor people” everything from a sub prime mortgage loan to buy a home which they could not meet the payments on; they promised to give “poor people” free health care which is free for them but paid by taxpayers; and they promised to give “poor people” every other imaginable economic need which in fact would always be paid for by those paying taxes. And what did these “poor people” have to do to change their economic circumstances? Nothing which has to do with paying taxes. All they had to do is vote for a Socialist Democrat who has promised to loot the federal treasury.


The sad truth is, this political game plan has now resulted in our current economic collapse which began with a Socialist Democrat party policy of handing out reckless mortgage loans to “poor people” which then bled into Freddie and Fannie and has played a major part in our nation’s economic collapse. This economic collapse then creates more “poor people” and strengthens the Socialist Democrat Party’s potential voting base. Does this explain why our founding fathers required people who vote to be tax payers [property owners]?


This election can be summed up as follows: TAX PAYERS vs. TAX GETTERS


JWK


If we can make 51 percent of America’s population dependent upon a federal government check, we can then bribe them for their vote, keep ourselves in power and keep the remaining portion of America’s working population enslaved to pay the bills ____ Obama’s Marxist political game plan, a plan to establish a federal plantation.

[Chongo]

Here's a copy of the 2006 letter

[Chongo]

More from C-SPAN Andrew Cuomo, of HUD states they knew there was going to be a higher default rate, but went forward anyway