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An Organized Crime
"WHAT exactly does a "community organizer" do? Barack Obama's rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here's a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit."
Stanley Kurtz explains it greater depth.
Stanley Kurtz explains it greater depth.
posted by Spencerblog at
10:05 AM
35 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maybe.
But it has come to my attention that David Diano is not content to hash it out with me on this blog.
He has taken to contacting my editor and complaining about what I've written behind my back.
He is free to do so. And he is free to continue to do so.
But as now, his comments will not appear on this blog until I decide otherwise.
Such wielding of political correctness as a silencing weapon, as DDD tried to do, is classic Dishonest Modern Liberalism.
he goes to extremes, while his beliefs are in of them self very extreme. He takes offense that others don't share his beliefs. I guess his background (camping outside the College President's offices in protest) are a testament to that behavior.
That's why I like individuals like bob; we can disagree (Which we do) but at least we show respect for each other.
Gil- so are you saying this financial crisis is Obamas fault?
I was listening to an interview on NPR the other day. A woman who is in a lower income bracket was explaining how a lender was telling her how she could afford more house than she was prepared to buy. He convinced her that she could rent out certain areas of her new house to make up for what she couldn't afford. Predatory lending. It has nothing to do with community organizers, and everything to do with greedy, unethical wall streeters who bundled and sold these mortgages to investors, knowing that they were weak. I don't think the poor, or their advocates had much to do with this.
Steve- thanks for the compliment. The feeling is mutual.
Also, why do I have the feeling that if you posted like an ABER-Liberal (e.g. See every other rotten publication), diano wouldn't be complaining?
Bob,
Yeah, I'm saying it is Barack Obama's, Barney Frank's and everyone else who pushed these kinds of houses-for-nothing, chicks-for-free mortgages is responsible.
That includes the lenders too, who made big profits while this Ponzi scheme played itself out.
Certainly, the securitzing of bad mortgage debt allowed it to spread like a cancer but without fannie and freddie willingness to tacitly commit taxpayer funds to back up the debt it never would have happened.
The crookedness and stupidity at fannie mae and freddie mac can't be overestimated. Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, Jamie Gorelick etc. got themselves tens of millions in bonuses by approving accounting tricks that landed other CEOs in jail.
Watch the video, read the blogs about who protected this system and who successfully lobbied to have it in place.
To say ACORN and other "advocates" and activists for the poor had nothing to do with any of this is not to know the history of it.
Gil- I don't know much about Kurtz, but a little research indicates that he has an agenda.
The point that I was trying to make, and maybe I didn't make it well, was that the bulk of the people who overextended were not the poor, but the middle class and upper middle class. People who probably have no clue who Acorn is. The people who want something, and they want it yesterday. The "not so frugal".
I know alot of these people. They owe thousands on credit cards, they remortgage so they can consolidate debt., borrow a little extra to buy the new wheels while they are at it, get the adjustable rate because it's low at the time,and then suddenly the rate goes up, gas goes up, food goes up - suddenly it's OH S***. There was a great commercial not to long ago. This upper middle class guy is standing in his beautiful front yard. He's showing us his new house, new car, new grill, and he say's "How do I do it? I'm up to debt over my head! Help!" I think that was a case of (commercial) art imitating life. I would like to see the figures on the income levels of those that are defaulting. I would imagine that the poor are, for the most part, insignificant.
Bob,
Now you're talking.
Once the standards got lowered for "poor people" and minorities, the middle class and upper middle class started taking advantage of them too.
People were encouraged to take on debt they really couldn't afford.
A friend told me about buying a $300,000 home back in the 1990s and being stretched to buy it. But the mortgage people told him and his wife they could afford a $550,000 home if they wanted one.
My friend knew that they couldn't "afford" it without having to eat dog food for dinner three nights a week.
But once the standards of risk had been lowered and backed by the Fannie and Freddie, more money was offered to everybody. And as the housing bubble grew and grew, few people complained too loudly.
Read the story that appeared in the NYT in 1999 in the new post above.
p.s. The "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs," commercial great. Funny then. Sad now.
Gil - A friend of mine likes to say "We hit the lottery of life. We were born white, middle class, and American." But you and I both know that there are a lot of good people in this country, hell, right in our own back yard, that had two strikes against them right out of the womb. I don't know what your personal beliefs are, but I believe we are our brothers keeper, and I seem to remember a certain administration asking the poor to rely on faith based initiatives for assistance. Enter the community organizers. The administration encouraged these organizations to help the poor. They go to bat for these people, and are successful. The brow beaten bankers that Kurtz seems to feel sorry for, see an opportunity to make some big money by taking advantage of the new laws. Predatory lending. And now Kurtz twists this around and puts the blame back on the community organizers. I'm not buying it.
Obama's top economic advisor, Franklin Raines, made 100 million as Fannie Mae's CEO. 50 million of what he made was bonus $$ based on performance. Problem was he was cooking the books.
He got sued by the SEC, and he settled this past spring and agreed to repay 24.1 million. The media is silent! Democrats are silent! It is disgusting, and Obama, Barney Frank, et al are going to blame our Pres and McCain.
God help us all if Obama is elected. Our lives will all be changed forever.
As for Diano, he doesn't agree with a point of view so he tries to eliminate it. Not very tolerant, but very liberal.
Scott - Franklin Raines, and Obama, both deny that Raines was an Obama economic advisor. Here is a list of Obama's top economic advisors form Reuters. Raines is not among them. I've researched the Raines connection, and it seems as though Raines may have answered phones during a campaign, but thats about it.
Austan Goolsbee
Jason Furman
Dan Tarullo
Laura Tyson
Paul Volcker
Jared Bernstein
Robert Reich
Peter Henry
Scott - Maybe the media is silent on this, because the story has no legs. Gill and I were discussing a story about McCain last week. It was printed in the Nation, and it concerned a McCain assisted cover up of information about Nam POW's.
Because of the source, and the unusual nature of the story, I didn't immediatly accept it to be true. As a matter of fact, I posted it, with a request that Gill look into the story to see if there was anything to it. Lets face it Scott. There is a lot of misinformation circulating to discredit Obama. The Raines/Obama connection seems to be one of those stories.
Our gaol here should not be the spreading of misinformation (Obama is a Muslim, McCain wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years),to convince the other side as to who is the better choice. Thats a self serving tactic that contributes to the dumbing down of this country. Our goal should be to cut through the BS, and keep each other informed as to what the truth really is.
Bob,
The Nation is not the Washington Post and it was the Washington Post that reported Raines had advised Obama on economic and mortgage issues. That is where the McCain campaign got that information. It says so right in the McCain ad.
The Post now says that the Raines-Obama connection was a lot weaker than its own reporting suggested. But that is hardly the McCain campaign's fault.
Prior to the McCain ad, neither Raines nor Obama had asked the Post to correct their reporting on the subject.
Raines now says he isn't an an advisor. Obama says he isn't. And Rev. Wright is no longer Obama's preacher.
Other liberal commentators have suggested the ad was "racist" because both Obama and Raines are black.
But Obama's past ties to Fannie and Freddie are real. He was the second highest paid Senator out of their lobbying slush fund. He invited FM's Jim Johnson to be on his vice presidential search committee.
When it comes to getting and soliciting political "advice," Obama, it is obvious, got more of it than just from his "listed" advisors.
Gil - You said "Prior to the McCain ad, neither Raines nor Obama had asked the Post to correct their reporting on the subject." How do you know?
Scott- Kurtz himself said the connection was not what the Post said it was. That's the point I was making with Scott. If it's not true, stop repeating it. But what about this story- Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.
Gil - You said "Prior to the McCain ad, neither Raines nor Obama had asked the Post to correct their reporting on the subject." How do you know?
I know because if they had been asked to correct it the Post's ombudsman would have SAID SO in their tortured explanation of why the McCain ad wasn't quite right.
And Raines and Obama certainly would have said so too.
Right?
Gil- so knowing that the Post has backed off the story and Kurtz said it was a stretch, has the McCain campaign pulled the add, or are they still misinforming the voters?
I don't know if they've pulled the ad. But just because Kurtz and the Post have backed off the story doesn't necessarily mean the McCain ad claim is inaccurate.
Obama did apparently consult with Raines. He certainly consulted with Jim Johnson and he definitely took more than $100,000 from Fannie and Freddie.
It certainly isn't the "flat-out lie" the Obama campaign claimed it to be.
Gil - Reminds me of the Yellow Cake story. Bush tries to sell us the story that Saddam was trying to buy yellow cake in Africa. He finds out that the story is questionable at best, so he goes back on the air and says "the British beleive that Saddam was trying to buy yellow cake in Africa." At this point, he knows it's not true, but some in Britain feel otherwise. Is Bush lying? Technically no. Is he misinforming the people of this country to further his agenda? Yes. Is it ethical? No. Same thing here. The ad leads one to conclude that Raines is a top economic advisor to Obama, and guys like C. Scott Shields Esq. buy into it, and repeat it without ever doing their homework.
BTW- where did everyone go? Are we the only ones left? It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone
Scott- Don't get me wrong. I know its taking place on both sides. This morning I was reading a factcheck story on Obamas misrepresentation of McCains stance on stem cell research. But I do take the time to investigate a story to the best of my ability.
Scott, if you sign up with factcheck.org, they will email you the facts.
"BTW- where did everyone go? Are we the only ones left? It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone."
Bob,
The only one gone is David Diano and his many sock puppets (Fatboy, to name one.)
Diano crossed a line by whining to my editor and accusing me of "gay bashing."
It didn't work but I didn't like it. So I suspended his posting privileges.
Since then, despite his repeated attempts to comment under assumed names, all his comments have been rejected.
Until he contacts me personally and apologizes, his posting privileges here will remain suspended.
That is all.
Additionally, and to be fair, any comments bashing Diano will also be rejected out of hand.
gil, you should take the "Tron" line of ending your posts. Use "End of Line" in lieu of "That is all".
I haven't been around because I have been busy as of late. And there's no need to discuss diano if he's not here and posting on his own.
Gil, don't worry you've still got me.
Groan
Groan
LOL
That wasn't me.
I think you know what's going on, r. You're being challenged by a certain someone (your biddy) to go back to a blogger ID or continue to have anything by a 'randal' or 'r' challenged. Based on Gil's post yesterday, it wouldn't be hard for that same certain someone to knock you off the board very quickly.
yeah, meant to say 'buddy'. I have to get spellcheck working...
Can the Mod check IP's of posters on these boards?
That wasn't me. I don't want my IP tracked.
That wasn't me. You can track my IP all ya want.
diano lives. randal, it was interesting having you on the board, looks like your end is coming quickly.
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