Not only Fannie's own executives were happy. So was Wall Street. When Fannie came under fire for shoddy and downright illegal accounting from Armando Falcon, a Texas Democrat who had been appointed head of Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), several Wall Street executives rushed to Fannie's defence
Not only Wall St execs--turns out FM used it's power to get a Sen. to get the OFHEO
investigated (from Roll Call):
Under scrutiny for questionable accounting practices beginning in 2004, mortgage giant Fannie Mae quietly tried to turn the tables on its federal watchdog by flexing its lobbying muscle and enlisting congressional allies to fire back at investigators, according to a report released Tuesday.
In particular, the lending giant won help from Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.). Twice in 2004, Bond did the company's bidding by asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general to investigate the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight — the HUD agency that was investigating Fannie Mae at the time.
That Sen. wanted Falcon
fired (Washington Post):
As it pursues its examination of Fannie Mae, the small regulatory agency is on the defensive on other fronts. Bond has proposed legislation to withhold $10 million of OFHEO's funding until Director Armando Falcon Jr. is replaced.
So it's really complex because of the sheer strength and reach of the giant's influence on all sides. But even more than that, the more I read, the more I see this whole issue as something knotted and systemic. Here are a couple of more links (not about FM/FM), but the crisis as a whole that I found interesting.
Barry Ritholtz has a super detailed discussion with charts graphs, links and all that about the history of the housing environment, etc. And since I'm obsessed with who is giving me the info, here's his
bio .
Here's some more from NYT and derivatives-
Taking a Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy .
The Hill has another article, not particularly deep, but still of interest as far as it displays the partisan wrangling some more from both sides-
Barbs Traded on Hearing on Lehman\'s Fall .
I found your comment a bit ago on the Democrats following the free market philosophy food for thought. I was reminded of a discussion in an academic talk where someone mentioned that in the US we don't really have a true "left" as it is understood elsewhere generally.
alcyone
