The Hill reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dissolving their formidable lobbying operations (when the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was investigating their shady accounting practices, Fannie Mae was spending $8 million a year on lobbyists, some of whom were working with Congress to derail the investigation).
The Hill reports,
When the two companies were taken over by the government, they said they would end lobbying practices that had made them a powerful force in Washington.Still, the lost contracts could hit K Street hard.
Overall, 37 outside firms filed second-quarter reports for Fannie and Freddie, according ...
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Financial Bailout: Correlation in contributions and votes in House
Financial Bailout: Fannie Mae announces subpoena
Fannie Mae announced <a href="http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/310522/000129993308004533/0001299933-08-004533.txt">today</a> that it's gotten more subpoenas from the SEC and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York:
<blockquote>On September 26, 2008, Fannie Mae received notice of ongoing federal government investigations and inquiries into Fannie Mae by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") regarding certain accounting, disclosure and corporate governance matters. In connection with those investigations and inquiries, Fannie Mae received a Grand Jury subpoena ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Citigroup purchasing Wachovia
Just curious: Is Citigroup, in purchasing Wachovia and absorbing up to $42 billion in losses, making a good investment? Are they looking at Wachovia's red ink, or is there estimation of the bank's worth based on the notion that its balance sheet will soon be brought into the black co
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Comparison of plans
Mark Tapscott of the D.C. Examiner posts a comparison of what was in the original plan submitted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and what congressional negotiators have arrived at now.
It will be interesting to see both the final language and the conference report. I wonder if the bill will end up including things like taxpayer funding for peanut warehouses to bring reluctant members on board.
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Financial Bailout: A look at the House GOP negotiators
Continuing the theme of last night's post (and of several prior posts -- just scroll down), we're taking a look at some of the key players in the financial bailout negotiations, looking at their career contributions from and personal interest in the industry. Thanks to Open Secrets, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, all this information is easily accessible online.
Over the course of his political career, minority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has raised $2,933,009 from political action committees, employees and their immediate family members of organizations in the finance, insurance and real estate ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Deal hammered out?
That's what a series of members are saying on a press conference I happened to tune into a few moments ago -- there's an agreement, but details have to be worked out (including getting it all down on paper).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., cited Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., as being critical to the negotiations, along with Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
The House Republican negotiator, Rep. Roy Blunt, on now, cited Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Dodd ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: 102 pages and counting
This Associated Press report is a little like the early going of an Eric Ambler thriller: a tantalizing hint of the complexity to come, but very little detail about what the twists and turns will be. The market meltdown measure, which began its life as a 3-page bill, has grown:
...after almost a week of marathon talks between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and key lawmakers in both parties, the working version was up to 102 pages.
We're going to need to add a lot of text to Public Markup.
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Who are the big investors?
The data is somewhat out of date -- from the end of 2006 -- but here were the top owners of some of the firms that stand to gain the most from a bailout of the financial system, courtesy of the personal financial disclosure database at the Center for Responsive Politics. Here were the top holders at that time:
Top Holders of Goldman Sachs
| John Kerry (D-Mass) | $2,000,002 |
| Christopher S. 'Kit' Bond (R-Mo) | $115,002 to $300,000 |
| Shelley Berkley (D-Nev) | $69,772 |
| John McCain (R-Ariz) | $65,002 to $150,000 |
| Denny Rehberg (R-Mont) | $50,001 to $100,000 |
| Kenny ... | Continue reading
