November 18, 2007

Everything that's wrong with US politics today is represented by Senator Chuck Schumer, the rent boy of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and more


Senator Charles Schumer is simply an obedient little rent boy servicing his big investment bank masters, doing their bidding regardless of what's best for his constituents and America.

Chuck Schumer is shamelessly and obviously corrupt. But the entire US political system has been corrupted by a campaign financing system run amok. Now Schumer (and his best buddy Ben Bernanke) are calling for corrupt and deceptive house-of-cards Fannie Mae to take on $1 million Jumbo loans .

Sick folks. The system is sick. And Schumer represents the disease.


CHARLES E. SCHUMER: CAREER PROFILE (SINCE 1989)
Top Contributors

1 Goldman Sachs $458,440
2 Citigroup Inc $399,716
3 JP Morgan Chase & Co $325,200
4 Morgan Stanley $298,946
5 Bear Stearns $230,350
6 Merrill Lynch $226,150
7 UBS Americas $222,000
8 Credit Suisse Group $199,044
9 Lehman Brothers $181,450
10 Time Warner $167,500

And in related news:

Schumer wants Fannie and Freddie to be able to take on $1 million loans


If Bernanke's congressional brain fart becomes law, taxpayers will no longer just be serving as the backstop for private companies charged with assisting in the national goal of expanding affordable housing. (That was the original mission of Fannie and Freddie, as pointed out by the good folks at Housing Doom, who brought this story to my attention.) Nope, if Ben gets his way, you and I will be forced into the business of guaranteeing loans for Americans who simply have to have that 4,500-square-foot McMansion.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) thinks this is a peachy idea.
Chuck -- who, of course, said absolutely nothing about the problems and excesses in lending while the housing bubble was inflating
-- has been making hay about the correction for months.

That's understandable. After all, his Wall Street constituents -- Citigroup (NYSE: C), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and Wachovia (NYSE: WB) -- need a major metaphorical Heimlich to save them from choking on a diet of bad-loan dog food of their own making.

A taxpayer-sponsored plan to let Fannie and Freddie buy up big loans would certainly help them out, providing the "liquidity" that real investors -- quite rightly -- are loath to provide these days.

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are those campaign contributions correct? Link? What the hell is wrong with America?

Anonymous said...

My predictions for 2008:

1) Lowest mortgage rates since 1949
2) FAS rule 157 delayed indefinitely
3) Euro = $3 US
4) Gold at $1200/oz, Silver $20/oz
5) Capital control laws enacted
6) President HRC announces the War on
Terror is over. A national economic
emergency will replace it. She will
assume vast new powers over economic
planning and policy.

Anonymous said...

Current Influence Price List

Fake postcard from Senator: $1000
Invitation to dinner gala: $5000
"Shaking hands with Senator"- photo: $10 000
Private session (30 mins): $50 000
Buddy Prospect program: $500 000
Real Buddy program: $1 500 000
Your Very Own Senator with 24h Hotline: $5 000 000 per year.

Anonymous said...

....And that's just the 'on the books' donations.

what about the blocks of cash in the freezer like that democratic congressman from Louisiana???

Anonymous said...

Schumer is a scuzball, I hope he feels worse every day.

Anonymous said...

He / it is an hideously foul and contemptuous beast.

Anonymous said...

"Chuck Schumer is shamelessly and obviously corrupt."

I could not have said this any better. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

.
.
.
And yet you and every other HPers cheered when Shumer and his good friends Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi won power in 2006. Way to go guys. Make sure you vote for Dems again next year.

Anonymous said...

It should be noted that most of the head "spooks" in the intelligence agencies come from the financial sector...not military.

The "rulers" of this country are interested in only one thing....expanding profits of their corporations.

Our military and tax dollars are used to this end. Best plan in the world really....use other peoples blood and money to make yourself rich.

Now lets get back to sucking our "pacifiers" (TV, Video Games, Internet, and shopping).

Tyrone said...

.
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$1 million Jumbo loans? Sure, why not. Lets call it... Ponzi II, The Re-birth.

Anonymous said...

I'll say it before, and I'll say it again.

The moment that duh Goverment started paying attention to this was precisely the moment that jumbo mortgages started having problems. (Check out the chart of TMA).

Before that, as subprime or Alt-a it was "contained", "free market", "responsiblity", yadda yadda.

Now, their friends and donors might actually start to get an owie.

They start hearing the stories from their posh-lunching wives.

And then their i-banking buddies start making squealing noises.

That requires Big Government to the rescue to stand up for the big guy!

Republicans and Demos pols alike start lurving Freddie and Fannie, now that Their Class needs help. Before, when they saw F&F giving money to conforming limits and being competition for big private bank profits, of course Republicans loathed them since they loathed the idea of less rich people having any advantage; that's just unnatural and unRepublican.

After all their biggest hope is to get on the boards of an investment bank or private capital firm, or get a "consulting" gig for big bucks, after they retire.

(personally I think F&F ought to be allowed to work, and work big, but ONLY if their capital requirements and regulatory requirements were significantly stricter than private banks, in order to protect the integrity of the goverment GSE. So that if there's a crisis, F&F's own regulatory-required prudence can help the rest, as opposed to taxypayer money. I think the private banks also need much more enforced regulation since it's obvious they really are too greedy and short-termism for their own good).

Anonymous said...

Did anyone notice that Fannie May (FNM) stock's price took a nose DIVE on Friday???

Snicker...

Anonymous said...

Take me to your leaders.
Uh,wait a minute,scratch that.
Really ,forget it,my bad.

Anonymous said...

Where is the organized (preferably with some political muscle) resistance to this crap, besides on the blogosphere???

Anonymous said...

Kieth,
Way to go to pick up this. Needless to say, not one MSM outlet even referred to the obvious implication that the REAL intention of this recommendation by Bennie was to bail out Wall Street and had nothing to do with the desperate borrowers. It is incredible how the American public is so easily hoodwinked into believing that someone who can afford a million dollar mortgage deserves a bailout. It also shows emphatically why there is only one party in the US and why this country is begging for an independent, populist candidate. And his name is Ron Paul.

Anonymous said...

This is a bad idea. The whole purpose of these institutions is to help the poor and underpriveledged get a leg up in housing - not to help the guy who earns $20k/yr who purchased a $1 million dollar mansion. I think the limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be the average home price, currently hovering around a respectable $200k.

Anonymous said...

Nine of his top ten contributors seem to have overdosed on that subprime goodness. Like the old saying goes, never get hooked on your own product. They should have stayed away from that toxic garbage.

Anonymous said...

That's a lie.

Democrats are good, Republicans are bad.
Democrats are good, Republicans are bad.
Democrats are good, Republicans are bad.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Four legs good, two legs bad.

Anonymous said...

Raising the conforming loan limit to a megabuck is absurd. If we accept the fact that the government should be providing assistance to home pruchasers---a premise of which I'm not convinced---then one would presume that assistance should be provided to those who are in need. Now, lets consider that you shouldn't really be buying a home that's more than 3x your income. That means that this senator is wanting to subsidise loans to people who make $333,333/year. I certainly hope that people with these sorts of incomes can manage to squeeze by without any assistance even if they have to eat mac and cheese every night to save cash...

Anonymous said...

You forget to add its Schumer and his crowd which supported our pro-water-boarding Attorney General Mukasey. Waterboarding them both would be a great idea! Hell we can also waterboard Ben Bernake!

Alice Cook said...

That is an impressive list of contributors. Remind me again, why do large investment banks feel so generous to US senators?

Alice

http://ukhousebubble.blogspot.com

Inflation buster said...

Do you think those same banks will be pushing the same kind of money on Ron Paul?

I think not....

Anonymous said...

.


What's wrong with America is people like Schumer are involved in it!

He's a Frick'n crook from the word go!




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Anonymous said...

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Let's not forget Uncle Ted "the swimmer' Kennedy!



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Anonymous said...

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Didn't you find it a little ironic that Kennedy was trying to define waterboarding as a torture?

If anyone would know about water torture it would be Teddy!


Remember Mary jo?


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Anonymous said...

I agree. In a Congress full of corrupt and self-serving jackals, Chuck Schumer stands apart from the crowd.

Ironically, his existence is useful as a moral beacon. That is, whatever position he takes, you an be assured that the correct position is the diametric opposite. That's because he's an evil little worm.

Anonymous said...

I am a new york state resident and i know first hand how currupt he is. Chuckieboy also loves to make it look like he is defender of the common man going into the street and holding press conferences about how people are getting ripped off by some store.

Also: Rejecting populist piety, Chuck Schumer is opposing legislation that would double tax rates for private equity and hedge fund executives, arguing that he’s torn over the measures but contending that they unfairly target an industry critical to his constituency. The New York Times reports the senator, the only Democrat on both committees with jurisdiction, has massive influence on the matter. • Schumer says he’s working on an alternative plan that would raise the tax rate for America’s wealthiest 1% without targeting a particular industry. Critics call that proposal a “poison pill” that would lack any real chance of passage. Charles Grassley, a co-sponsor of the existing legislation, bluntly says of Schumer: “He wants to protect the income.”

Anonymous said...

One of the better books i read in college was aptly titled, "Still the Best Congress Money can Buy."

Anonymous said...

IMPEACH HIM

christiangustafson said...

This is truly sickening. Hey, loyal Democrats out there, what do you think of one of your leading senators pushing legislation like this?

There's total systemic risk in this. If it makes it to the President's desk, he MUST veto it. He simply must.

Anonymous said...

Fed-backed loans for McMansions is just another Super-SIV wet dream. The gov't is as bankrupt as the banks. The housing bubble isn't going to be re-inflated.

The crash may be in slow motion, and it may take a while to pick up momentum, but unless 0% interest rates with interest only loans become available, there won't be too many million-dollar loans approved.

Jobs are going down the drain. Wages will follow. Global wage arbitrage not only isn't going away, but as developing countries make better incomes off our overses-shifted manufacturing, they begin to compete with us for resources and finished products and that raises prices for us. So, we'll have falling incomes and higher prices. It doesn't take an MBA to figure out that math.

Anonymous said...

That's why I had this disgusting pig listed as one of the people I despise most a couple of days ago.

Anonymous said...

Schumer never needs to worry about home price affordability, Goldman Sachs pays for his house.

Anonymous said...

And yet you and every other HPers cheered when Shumer and his good friends Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi won power in 2006.

Yep, Dems won after the people got sick of so much corruption and sex scandals (perverts) from the crook Republicans.

Republicans are crooks, not matter how you Bushbots and GOP whores try to sugar coat it. I rather see Hillary as president than cross dresser Giuliani. The same Bush cronies that have been raping this country for 8 years want to elect Giuliani to continue the party.

Oh, I want Ron Paul to win.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, the phony war created by corrupt Republicans is costing trillions to taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

.




caption,


" I have no genitals"!



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Paul E. Math said...

Such a dirty whore.

Anonymous said...

And how much of the donation money came when Eliot Spitzer breathed down Wall Street's neck after the tech bubble burst & Enron scandal.

Remember the investment bank guys were in the room telling the Enron guys what to do. Yet they avoided getting dragged into the accountability scene afterwards.

Anonymous said...

Schumer's bank buddy list is almost as impressive as Dodd's.

But what's *really* important here is that we get rid of Fannie and Freddie. Just having them around is HUGE impetous to drive up the cost of housing which then leads to politicians and lenders getting in on the gravy train, all on the backs of hardworking, totally overstressed Americans paying WAY. TO. MUCH. of their income towards a home.

GET RID OF FANNIE MAE. She hates us all. Just let the b*tch implode already.

Anonymous said...

Investment banks - 186,000 workers: Average bonus $201,500 per person

Wall Street Plans $38 Billion of Bonuses as Shareholders Lose
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahE8xVisWsbE&refer=home

http://tinyurl.com/2v9n6u

Anonymous said...

Here's Dodd's below. Hard to say who's dirtier.

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD: CAREER PROFILE (SINCE 1989)
Top Contributors

1 Citigroup Inc $415,600
2 United Technologies $386,650
3 Bear Stearns $354,450
4 Sac Capital Advisors $341,600
5 Goldman Sachs $264,916
6 American International Group $258,938
7 Deloitte & Touche $258,670
8 Greenwich Capital Markets $240,500
9 St Paul Travelers Companies $210,900
10 Morgan Stanley $208,425
11 JP Morgan Chase & Co $203,773
12 Credit Suisse Group $196,550
13 Merrill Lynch $192,350
14 Royal Bank of Scotland $184,050
15 PricewaterhouseCoopers $175,650
16 KPMG LLP $159,590
17 Ernst & Young $145,750
18 Lehman Brothers $140,100
19 General Electric $135,530
20 Hartford Financial Services $132,650

Anonymous said...

Keep voting DEMOCRAT. We will have illegals with licenses and the ability to buy tax-payer subsidized $1M homes.

Anonymous said...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are insuring over $4.5 TRILLION of mortgages for Wall Street. Not only are these GSE's putting American taxpayers on the hook for something 3 TIMES the size of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars COMBINED, but they are helping drive up the cost of housing, making Americans poorer.

This is the brainchild of FDR and the socialist-fascist Democrat Party. These GSE's are the biggest corporate welfare boondoggle in the history of the world. The oil and defense industries can only have wet dreams of having all of their risk of losses insured by the taxpayers. All you hear is these stupid liberals claiming it is helping people get into housing. The only thing it is doing is to help the lenders enslave ALL Americans. Even if you didn't get into the ponzi scheme, the collapse of the GSE's will drag you into it.

Get it through your thick wacko leftist skulls - the DemoRats are no better than the wacko Repukes. Every idiot who is registered DemoRat or Repuke is at the root of the problems in this country. They are too blinded by party loyalty to force a change and save this country. We are headed into the toilet thanks to you morons.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, the phony war created by corrupt Republicans is costing trillions to taxpayers.

God, you are so stupid - I'll bet you really think Democrats are on your side... what a moron!

Anonymous said...

As much as I hate Shumer, he is nowhere near as bad as a chicken hawk neocon.