Fat Cat Bankers??!!

On Sunday, December 13, 2009 President Obama referred to American bankers as "fat cat bankers" who "just do not get it." This was said during an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes." He was referring to bankers inability to understand why Americans were upset with their large bonuses after taking bailout money. I guess President Obama forgot that the sub prime lending which caused the banking and credit crisis started when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be put in conversatorship in September 2008. President Obama, who said that he would not have anything to do with lobbyists, did accept $120,000.00 from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during his 144 days in the US Senate. In a similar vein, there was an article in the New York Times that 4 bailout recipients are still struggling and may need further government funding. Guess who's on this list. If you say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, you're today's winner.
Please remember this, it was sub prime lending that set off this recession. Why did banks and mortgage companies make loans to people that could not handle these loans? One big hint, the community reinvestment act. This act requires banks to conduct business with all communities within their service area. The act was passed to prevent redlining, the practice of not engaging in risky and imprudent transactions such as sub prime loans. The US government encouraged and cajoled the "fat cat bankers" to make high risk mortgages with the implicit guarantee that the government would back up the loans if defaults became a problem.

The latest on congressional spending

According to the Associated Press, the house democrats are pushing through a $1.1 trillion (think 11 zeros and 3 commas to the right of the 1.1) spending bill in addition to whatever they finally decide (if anything) on the health care debacle often referred to as overhaul or reform.

The folks at Taxpayers for Common Sense found $3.9 billion funding congressional pet projects known as earmarks. They counted 5227 altogether. On a state by state basis this is over 100 earmarks per state. On a congressional district basis using 435 districts this is 12 per district. President Obama said he would read through every line of legislation and strike out unnecessary spending.

I wonder how many earmarks there were before his careful scrutiny of the bill??