----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:53 AM
Subject: Fw: America, you are a corporatocracy, not a democracy.....

The following letter came from a friend. He approves of the occupy wall street protests to the extent that they are objecting to Crony Capitalism. I believe the OWS protesters are pawns of the world socialists, although they think that protesting Crony Capitalism and wealth inequality.  

There is evidence that the OWS protests are supported by big money, which begs the question, “What does big money want to buy?” If it is Soros, international money, or unfriendly governments behind these protests, and thus the OWS protesters are playing into the hands of those who want to impose a socialist New World Order on the economy and culture. I think the demonstrations opposing corporatism and Wall Street are a ruse hiding the purpose of the puppetmaster to impose full government control on society. I don't believe the majority of corporate America is manipulating the Congress with bribes of various sorts, although I am certain that there is an entire spectrum of abuses of influence. And, I'm sure we can find violations by corporatists of the spirit of the Constitution and the Founding Father's vision for America.

A few examples of crony capitalism I consider valid are:
1) the imposition of GMO's on the public.
2) The FDA pursuing regulation of vitamins, herbs, and natural remedies.
3) The collusion of the FDA with medicine in supporting marginally effective therapies.
4) The EPA collusion with research to fund only pro-warming research.

But, I think there is a parallel issue, one more insidious and potentially damaging, the movement toward a socialist America, as evidenced by the following:
1) Taking over GM was a pure socialist, big government takeover of the icon of corporate, free enterprise America.
2) The corruption of science by government to support the Global Warming theory is a classic example of grant money manipulating research, society, and facts to support an agenda. The Global Warming theory is being used as the reason/justification to impose regulations on all productive enterprises, and thus bring all industry under control of the socialist state.
3) The entire meltdown of the economy due to the subprime mortgage crisis can be laid at the feet of the government requirement to loan money to the poor in the inner city (The Community Redevelopment Act of 1979 -- the CRA). (Whether this was a purposeful destruction of the economy, or the foolishness of those who worship "fairness" "equality" and "social justice" is unknown, but the effect has been destruction of the heart of the economic engine.) And of course, Bush can be blamed for it, at least partially, because he didn't stop it, although he did write 16 letters to congress warning or telling them. But, he did not demand that it stop. Instead he spoke, but then expected fairness, or truth, to be sufficient. The bottom line was that he did nothing to stop the outrage, he did not declare all out war on this program. He did not confront the people responsible and humiliate them public. He did not come to the American people and say, "This has got to stop, and we will do everything in our power to reverse the administrative rules and law that enables this practice." So yes, was he responsible, you bet. But, Bush is an easy target because everyone hates Bush. The media gives him the blame for everything that has gone wrong in the country since 2000. But, Bush is not the real perpetrator, it is the people who started the legislation and rules that enabled it. The real perpetrators are Carter who initiated it, Clinton who brought it to a point of enforcement, and Frank and Dodd who defended the CRA/subprime mortgages. These men, the ones actively responsible for passing, enabling, and defending this policy were hailed as heroes and saviors, and then put in charge of "repairing the damage". The irony, the twist of justice, the Alice in Wonderland reversal of reality is just too strong too even believe that it was a real story -- except it is. Bush was either bought out, part of the cabal, or too weak or nice exert the necessary political force to stop the trainwreck.

I believe our real battle is with the communists and socialists. The battle of against corporatocracy is only one act in the play whose denouement is the full implementation of a One World Government. The corporatocracy can be blamed, and fought as though they are the evil empire, the source of the problem. But all the while, the process of fighting corporatism gives government more power and brings it into the place of being in full control of industry and personal life.
T.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tico (but, completely rewritten by Thomas Lee Abshier, ND)
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 12:55 PM
Subject: America, you are a corporatocracy, not a democracy.....

Dear Capitalist Friends:

As I talk to many in the finance world, whether entrepreneurs, investors, or industrialists, I hear a consensus forming that government intervention in every aspect of personal, social, and economic life is slowly becoming more oppressive. Leadership by the White House, and legislation from Congress have moved America from a hard working capitalistic society (if you didn't work you didn't eat, and the church and community supported the poor) to a socialist Nanny/Big Brother-welfare state.

The capitalism of yesteryear required both corporation and individual to stand on their own merits in the marketplace,and succeed or fail based only on their personal decisions, ingenuity, abilities, effort, and enterprise. But, the welfare state has removed the consequences of failure, promising to take care of everyone with unemployment, medical care, and retirement. The ideals have become so perverted that these services which were once obtained only with hard work, are now called "entitlements, even though these costly benefits are supported by those still gainfully employed.

Given the burden on the working class, one would expect government to support, and ease the way for those who work and produce. But, against all rationality, government has followed a parallel path of erecting onerous regulatory requirements that make entrepreneurial success even more difficult. A few of the obstacles are:

1) Financing: Financing a new business has become more difficult because of the poor business climate, and the inaccessibility of loans.
2) Free Trade: Free trade agreements have left domestic manufacturers vulnerable to foreign competitors who have comparatively little regulatory expense burden, and an extreme wage and tax disparity. The result is a manufacturing environment that naturally moves jobs off shore, and largely because of the domestic regulatory and tax burdens imposed by government.
3) Regulatory & Tax Burden: Business, manufacturing, and industry must comply with regulations around:: environment, working conditions, endangered species, land use, discrimination, multiculturalism, and safety, etcetera. The overall effect is to cripple the competitive capacity of America. The result has been the outsourcing of jobs, and the importing of cheaper foreign goods. The result is a self-neutered industrial giant.
When we see the handicapping of American productivity and competitiveness by government, and the obvious flight of American jobs, one cannot help but wonder if the debilitation of American productivity is purposeful? If so, then what would be the motivation?

An alternate possibility is that the auto-castration of America arises naturally from a perverse world view. We have turned from our Judeo Christian roots as a nation, and any stand based on or attributed to a Lawful, Judeo-Christian morality is condemned as hateful, and/or a violation of the "Separation of Church and State". Thus, we could easily hypothesize by the fierce antipathy to all things Christocentric and Lawful/unLawful according to the Biblical God, that those who occupy the seats of power in government have allied themselves with Satan, and could reasonably be given the title as Anti-Christ.

The issues around which we see these men motivated to exercise their social governance include:
1) White guilt requiring reparations, affirmative action, and lowering of standards to attain racial quotas. Multiculturalism and unlimited illegal immigration as a superior cultural standard to homogeneous language, history, values, religion, and national vision. Homophilia, the rejection of all Biblical history and command regarding the effects of allowing the abomination in a society. Adultery, and all sexual perversion approved, taught, and endorsed by the social engineers. The equivalence of the Palestinian and Jewish people in their claim over the Holy Land, when the historical record gives clear evidence of God's promise, while disregarding God's promise of blessing to those who bless Israel, and a curse to those who oppose her. Racism, discrimination, and intolerance is now used as the ultimate epithets to diminish the character, credibility, and argument of every opponent, on any topic if even the most tangential connection with race or religion.
2) Equality: American exceptionalism has become anathema, a badge of shame, a goal to be avoided. Class envy has been used to fuel class warfare, enabling taxing the rich to give to the poor. Covetousness has been elevated to the most acceptable of all attitudes toward those who have more. Fairness rises to the top of all virtues (along with choice, tolerance, and liberty). And, while the having more than the poor, unfairness, creating a world without distinction of outcome, legislating equality rather than allowing opportunity and individual fruits based on effort.
3) n, certainly those in positions of power also see. Such observations bring us to the obvious conclusion, "We are witnessing a purposeful destruction of America's industrial/manufacturing base."

Today, our government manages the day-to-day affairs of a dysfunctional bureaucracy who imposes paralyzing regulatory burdens that cripple our productive capacity, while authorize spending bills that cannot be supported by our diminished productive capacity, and fill the gap between spending and tax income with deficit spending financed by foreign government investment and indirectly by the Fed.

The Federal Reserve (The Fed, America's Central Bank), is charged with preventing inflation, and maintaining full employment. The Fed attempts to control the business cycle by adjusting the interest rate on short term loans. The rates charged by other lenders such as the Wall Street Banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs), other investment banks, and ultimately the Retail banks are affected by the rates charged by the Fed. The cost of a loan factors in strongly whether a company will expand, hire, produce, and grow the economy. The Fed believes that the best way to control inflation is by slowing the rate of production of the economy.

But, this theory is counterintuitive, and hence must be examined more closely to understand the error. When borrowing is high, and there is a corresponding increase in the rate of production, there will be an large amounts of goods and services available for consumption. Excessive dollars pursuing low consumption is the problem. Thus, to solve the problem, the Fed should reduce the stimulus to consume during times of inflation, and increase the stimulus for production, and encourage saving.
If this were the only problem that the Fed tried to solve, it would be enough. But, there are those who believe that the Fed (all Central Banks) has been a tool in the hands of government in facilitating its penchant for legislating benefits in excess of tax revenues. In other words, the Fed feeds the appetite of government for more spending by "printing money."

The typical method of printing money has been the monetization of the debt. By law, the Fed cannot buy Treasury Bills directly. Such a transaction would be a clear monetization of the debt; printing money, and giving it to the government to spend. But, the Fed can buy Treasuries on the Secondary market. So, the Wall Street bankers buy treasury bills at auction, and then the Fed buys those treasury bills from the Wall Street bankers. The current balance of the Fed is around 2 Trillion dollars.

The Fed is a prime target by those who believe there is a conspiracy to create a world government, or New World Order. They note that the Fed can through this circuitous route enable government to conduct war, and conduct social policy beyond the governments ability to finance such operations by taxes.

Giving a recent example, last of Friday, 10/14/2011, the Treasury sold $44 billion worth of Treasury Bills. The percentage of that sale not purchased by other countries, and investors, will be put on the Fed's balance sheet by this indirect method. With this money in hand, the Treasury disburses it to the various agencies, who spend it into the economy. The amount of money that the Fed "printed" is in effect diluting the money supply, and causing the value of the dollar to drop, making the cost of goods and services more expensive. Such issuance of bonds, although purchased by an intermediary first, are still diluting the money supply with newly "printed" money. The problem with printing money, and then spending it into circulation, is that there is no commitment to produce goods and services associated with it. A normal normal loan comes only with a contract to produce value, and to return commensurate value plus interest. But, spending money without a commensurate commitment to produce causes an imbalance between the productive and consumptive pressure in an economy. When the consumptive pressure exceeds the productive pressure, the result is inflation. Given the massive injections of money (liquidity) and the concomitant shrinkage in productive capacity, we see why the price of Gold and Silver have escalated so sharply, given that gold and silver are an inherent hedge against inflation.

In Wall Street bankers have an important role to play in funding American business. They first capitalize themselves by selling equity positions in their corporations. But having established themselves in the first layer of the financial flow, the Wall Street Bankers can buy bonds directly from the Fed at a low interest rate. The Wall Street bankers then loan that money at a higher interest rate to the Retail banker. And finally the Retail banker loans money to a business at a still higher rate. The Wall Street bankers thus introduce new money supply into the economy, but the amount of new "printed" money coming from the Fed is only a portion of the money they loan into the economy. And, all such money is eventually connected with a contract to repay by the production of goods and services, either directly by the facilitation of the loan, or through other gainful employment.
The Central Bank has great power to facilitate the policies of government. In particular, those expensive ventures such as wars, and policies such as Medicare and Social Security. Such adventures in charity and conquest and defense would not be feasible if full payment were required from taxes, and monetizing the debt (i.e. printing money to pay for consumption) was strictly forbidden, even through the secondary market. This desire to expand the purse of government may be why such powerful pressure has been placed on the legislature and executive at various points in America's history to implement a Central Bank.

Many believe that the international bankers and central banks are using their power to fund certain policies to bring about a New World Order. Theories about the Bilderbergs, Trilateral Commission, Illuminati, and Council on Foreign Relations abound, and these conspiracy theories may have merit, or not. But, the pervasiveness and longevity of the theories makes them worthy of examination.

If these various groups have political agendas that require funding, it may be possible to turn ideas into action by financially supporting candidates and elected officials that are favorable to a given agenda. Thus, if there are methods of channeling money to congressmen and senators vetted as supportive to the cause, it may be possible to create the appearance of representative democracy, that has in fact been policy bought by big money. In this manner, the laws of the nation and world may be shaped to meet the specifications and dreams of men who would remake the face of the nation and world in their own image.

The Central Bankers have the potential to support projects with unlimited funding since they control the money printing presses. But in reality, new money must be introduced in a metered manner, otherwise inflation will rise, and the operation of the Fed be called into question. Nevertheless, there is evidence of the Fed engaging in acts of questionable legality. For example, the Fed has management control over the gold in Fort Knox, which is where our gold is supposed to be. But in fact, it may not be there. A congressional group that wanted to see our physical gold at Fort Knox was refused. The elected representatives of the people should be allowed to examine a valued national asset, which belongs to the American people.

It would seem that our representative democracy has been greatly weakened by the ability of the Central Bank's ability to control the monetary system, and by extension the legislators who pass laws. President Andrew Jackson fought bitterly to against the Central Bank, and he was successful in preventing the renewal of the Second Bank of the United States. He considered this to be the crowning achievement of his presidency, and mentioned it on his death bed.

Another issue given great concern by the conspiratorialists is Fractional Reserve Banking. The practice of keeping 10% of the deposits in reserve, and loaning out 90% does not create new money, but it does increase its velocity, which has the effect of increasing the money supply, but not the actual number of printed bills in circulation.

Fractional Reserve Banking works like this:
1) Depositor puts $1000 in the bank.
2) The bank then loans out $900 and keeps $100 in reserve.
3) The loaned money is then spent into the economy, and the recipients deposit it into other banks.
4) The banks who now have that money as a deposit loan out 90% of it and keep 10%.
5) This sequence continues many times, and at its theoretical limit, the amount of money in circulation is 10 times the amount of the original deposit.

This is a bit of slight of hand magic, and shifting of frames. The multiplication of money came not from printing more bills each time there was a new loan, but rather creating the effect of new money each time the money was loaned and spent. If the money was only paid spent, and deposited, there would have been only the original 1000 of potential expenditures. But, when the money was loans, spent, deposited, then loaned, spent, and deposited, the result was the multiplication of the effective amount of money that was in circulation compared to the amount that was actually printed as bills that the original bank customer deposited. This is the magic of Fractional Reserve Banking.

Some object to the FRB system because it seems immoral to put your money in the bank, and have it be loaned, spent, and deposited so many times. It seems as though someone must be cheating, or is being cheated. But, no such chicanery is present in the sytem. The depositors deposit their money, knowing that it will be loaned out. They know they can withdraw it at any time, and thus they have all the functionality that is required of money stored in the bank. The statistics of use, deposit, and withdrawal of money make it possible for the system to support both loaning, safe deposition, and sure withdrawal. These statistics break down when a bank run occurs, which has happened many times over the years, and was one of the reasons the Central Bank was instituted, so that a banker of last resort could supply the dollars needed to withdraw if customers lost faith in a bank.

And, while this system is not corrupt, or inherently immoral, it does put the banking system at risk for a "run on the bank" because there is only $1000 of that money that is in the bank out of $10,000 that is in circulation. As long as people maintain confidence in the banking system, there will be no problem, but in the case of a catastrophic collapse of confidence, the system could fail. This is why the FDIC was instituted, to produce one more layer of confidence and lessen the likelihood of a run on the bank.
The Panic of 1907 was the financial disaster that gave sufficient impetus to the legislature to pass the Federal Reserve act of 1913. The bill was under consideration for 2 years before its December 23rd vote, and was passed with a large majority. The opponents to the Central Bank were eventually satisfied with the conditions imposed upon the bank, and its operation became law.

Notice that the Federal Reserve is not a government agency. It is largely independent, although its governors are approved by congress. In the past it could not be audited, even though it has much power over our financial system. But after much protest by the Fed, the Banking Committee was able to recently conduct an audit. They found that trillions in loans had been made to foreign governments and foreign banks!! This clearly was clearly outside the mandate and policy responsibility of the Federal Reserve. So what happened with this fraudulent use of the dollar? Nothing, not a public exposure, and not a prison sentence. The Fed just went on as usual. Imagine, trillions of dollars of loans were made (which were printed out of nothing, loaned, and will necessarily dilute the purchasing power of the dollar) were sent secretively to foreign governments to help them and their banks recover. And this was done without informing the public or asking for congress for the approval.

Those who believe there is a conspiracy to bring the nation under a New World Order, an American socialist regime, note taht government has slowly usurped the freedoms of Americans by various reinterpretations of the Constitution. The prime example being the interpretation of the commerce clause in Article 4, which gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.

The Founders intended this clause to mean that there shall be no conflicting laws that interfere with interstate trade. But, the words of this constitutional clause have been removed from its intent and the principle has been reinterpreted. The Commerce Clause now gives Congress, and by extension the agencies, the power and right to regulate every aspect of life and trade. Hence we have national edicts declaring how much water a toilet can use on each flush. When the Federal government has usurped the rights of the States fully, it is no longer a weak Federal government coordinating a group of States with all rights not specifically given to the Federal government by the Constitution. Instead, it is an all powerful central government, allowing the States only small pieces of authority.
The governments of Europe have become largely socialistic, and it appears that the intent of the power elite is to create the same pervasive control of life by government in America. Every day that passes our liberties are slowly diminished by Congress who does the bidding of those with the largest money footprint, and a President who wishes to "spread the wealth around".

We now see a new phenomenon arising, with the protesters who are "occupying" Wall Street. Their purpose is unclear, but a valuable talking point would be a demand that Congressmen and Senators fully disclose their relationship with lobby money from the bankers, medical, oil, military supply, and insurance. When men are bought by big business, they usually do not represent what is in the best interests of America or her people. When a man takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from a donor, he may have to give assurance of support, and at the very least will feel obligated to support the position of his donors.

What is the solution to the problem of influence and vote buying in Congress? Should we prevent anyone from receiving donations over a certain amount, and only from individuals? Should we remove everyone from office who has taken a donation from a corporation over a certain amount? I think that we should allow any gift, from anyone, and the donor list should be made boldly public. As a nation, we must be responsible for knowing the character and obligations of every candidate. When rules are passed, they are often broken by a man more clever than a static set of rules.

There are a few in congress who have kept themselves clean, like Congressman Ron Paul and newly elected senator Marco Rubio. But, the new Tea Party congressmen also appear to be of good moral character. The fact that such men could be elected shows that there is still discernment among the electorate, and this gives us hope.
At present, our representative democracy, and hence our liberties, are under siege to the extent that our representatives are under the influence of a Corporatocracy. When corporations control government and tax money, then their interests come before the interests of the citizen. When corporations can exert sufficient influence to pass laws favorable to their interests, the rule of law is biased in favor of those who have bought and paid for that law. The ultimate effect is to use the consuming/governed public as the cows to milk and feed the corporate profits.

In Europe, where socialism has taken full control, the working public is kept just above the poverty line, while the few ruling elite live in luxury. The elite have the same end goal for America, to create a nation of elites and workers. The heads of corporations that seek to buy undue influence, and those who represent us in Congress who give that influence, all commit treason. The first group seeks to pervert representative democracy, and the latter, by succumbing to the seduction of graft, violate the sacred oath of faithfully representing the people.

The corporatocracy is a competitor with communism for absolute control of the people. The communist agenda is open, but its methods of implementing its acceptance and coming to dominance are as subversive as espionage. They have infiltrated the school systems with socialistic, multicultural dogma, taken God out of the American life, rewritten history, instituted progressive taxation to equalize wealth, taxed inherited wealth to prevent the accumulation of wealth, and in general implemented socialistic principles into the heart of American law, policy, and justice.

Likewise, corporatism has the objective of manipulating the world to accept and purchase its products. And, to further this goal it seeks to influence the legislative environment to approves their product, and if possible legislate against the competition. Corporatism seeks to dominate the market and drive consumption through advertising, by using innate sensory appeal, and if possible create a hard or soft addiction/dependence. But, the most sinister aspect of corporatism is the undue influence of the legislative, regulatory, and judicial process. Lobbying is on the right side of the legality and ethics, and is not inherently unfair or wrong. Adding campaign contributions to lobbying moves the ethical standard closer to unfair and buying influence, the integrity of the man is the determinant on this. The line is crossed when votes are promised in return for favorable legislation, rules, and decisions.

There is no way to absolutely prevent government influence by corporate interests when there is money and campaign contributions involved. Men are inherently self interested, and subject to the sense of obligation and giving back for having received. The only bulwarks against corruption are full disclosure, limited tenure, modest pay, the heart of a public servant, men with a (Christian) Godly and mature moral map, and stiff and sure justice against perpetrators.

The Corporatists seek to control government to put legal power behind their interests, and in doing so, seek to enroll both Democratic and Republican representatives. They use the tools of money, women, and power to seduce elected officials to enact "laws" that legitimize their market advantage. If congress responds to this bribery, they are both immoral and traitors to the Constitution.

The influence of corporate money on government can be a financial-legislative cancer which replaces American democracy with a third world system of government for hire. The average citizen knows that something is wrong when he sees banks bailed, and yet has difficulty getting a loan to keep his business going. The interlocking nature of corporate-government corruption is not well understood, and as such a poor defense against its decaying influence has been erected. I don't believe the OWS protests will result in the necessary awareness or changes.

The buying of votes through legislated entitlements, such as Medicare, Social Security, and Obamacare will cost us our sovereignty. The debt we are accumulating will debase our currency, take away our status as the world's reserve currency, and put us at the mercy of hostile lenders who will purchase and take our national treasures. The debtor is servant to the lender. Such irresponsible financial behavior by those in control could reduce America to the status of an ordinary socialist nation, or in the worst case scenario, a loss of faith in the dollar could cause a worldwide depression.

We now have in power those who openly admit they use times of extreme crises to make large shifts in the social order. Such a crisis could be the perfect opportunity to usher in "THE NEW WORLD ORDER". The scenario of American history may have been long competed against a plan to bring in this new era of world socialism.

Below is an article that will be published this Sunday in the Washington Post. It is good that the media is allowing this kind of financial abuse to be shared openly.

If you agree with this writing, then I hope you send this email out to every American you know. There is no vast right wing conspiracy to direct the opponents to the communist-corporate corruption of our republic and its representative democracy. We must all do our part to be part of the grassroots loyal opposition. We must have openness, moral men, and strong prosecution of crony capitalism. We must change course before our Republic financially disintegrates like ancient Rome. It eventually imploded due to its military expansionism, political ineptitude, and plunder of their treasury.

I love America, and I believe the individual should be free from any form of government or corporate tyranny. I believe in fair capitalism. I believe in representative democracy and the Republic as set forth by our forefathers. I believe we must break free of the undue influence of corporations, socialists, multiculturalists, and the Federal Reserve.
If you do too, then share it others.




Occupy Wall Street Needs to Occupy Congress, AG offices
Posted By Barry Ritholtz On October 15, 2011 @ 10:00 am In Bailouts,Politics

There seems to be some debate as to what Occupy Wall Street should be focused on.
I have 3 suggestions — excerpted from my Sunday column [1] in the Washington Post. You will note that these three are issues that both the Left and the Right — Libertarians and Liberals — should be able to agree upon:

There is much more, but you get the flavor of the piece. We shall see what resonance it will have amongst the crowd and OWS leaders . . .

Article printed from The Big Picture: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog
URL to article: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-needs-to-occupy-congress-ag-offices/
URLs in this post:
[1] Sunday column: http://www.washingtonpost.com/barry-ritholtz/2011/03/31/AFWBwIBC_viewAll.html
-----------------------------------------



Here's a quick look into the three former Fannie Mae executives who brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, " Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made" and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years." Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear. http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ . The Government noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner." These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.

Net windfall . . . $190 million!

Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday English - he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation determined that, "Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million." Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.



WHERE ARE THEY NOW?