VERY, VERY INTERESTING………………PLEASE READ THIS ONE!!!
Who is Franklin Raines??
> Franklin Raines is the former chairman and chief executive
> officer of Fannie Mae, the government sponsored enterprise
> started in 1939 to offer mortgages to Americans wishing to
> become home owners. After serving as budget director under
> President Bill Clinton, Mr. Raines served as CEO at Fannie
> Mae from 2000 until 2004. While Mr. Raines was CEO, Fannie
> Mae went deep into the practice of buying mortgages based on
> almost no or no money down given to borrowers who could not
> afford them. During this time he received bonuses and
> salary over 90 million dollars. In 2004 he was offered
> “early retirement” after the accounting practices used
> at Fannie during his tenure to secure top executive bonuses
> were shown to be fraudulent. Civil charges were filed
> against Raines and two other former executives which sought
> $110 million in penalties and $115 million in returned
> bonuses from the three accused. On April 18, 2008, the
> government announced a settlement with Raines
>
together with J. Timothy Howard,
> Fannie's former chief financial officer, and Leanne G.
> Spencer, Fannie's former controller. The three
> executives agreed to pay fines totaling about $3 million,
> which will be paid by Fannie's insurance policies.
> When pressed by the Bush administration to tighten down
> regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, members of
> congress – Republicans and Democrats alike - in positions
> to pass such regulations, did nothing. Today, Fannie Mae
> owns or guarantees over half of America’s 12 trillion
> dollar mortgage market, and we are in the middle of a credit
> crunch and housing slump brought on in large part by
> government backed Fannie Mae going down this dangerous
> credit slope under Mr. Raines.> And where is Franklin Raines today? He is a chief
> economic advisor to the presidential campaign of Senator
> Barack Obama.
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