The Housing Crisis

I don't normally get into politics, especially on my blog, but I wanted to share the following with you (and here's the link on snopes to verify it: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/easescredit.asp )

Do you remember this? It's what really started all of the current financial problems.


And while all of you do your “due diligence” and vote in a president that will actually *do* something instead of “cheap talk”, may I remind you of what the New York Times had this to say on September 11, 2003:



New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: September 11, 2003

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.


Of course, the plan was opposed — by Democrats, including Barney Frank:


"Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said. "


Remind me why we care what Barney Frank thinks again?

Time to breathe

The last few weeks have been crazy, and not all of it has been good crazy.

Last week, I had my "off-site" experience for my pediatric rotation. I spent time in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). The PICU was the most emotionally awful experience I have ever had in nursing school. There were two "non-accidental" traums (aka: child abuse)--including shaken baby and a child that was beaten so terribly that her liver lacerated. There was the teen who attempted suicide and failed (yet, if she survives, will be left so severely impaired that she may never even be able to eat again). I came home and cried. To see the hurt in this world--the evil in this world--so up close and personal was devestating. I can't imagine the parents that would hurt their children, and I can't imagine the pain that would cause a young person to think suicide is a better solution than life.

I really enjoyed being in the NICU. There are sad cases there, too, but it's a different kind of sad. Maybe I have a double standard, but I have loads more compassion (and "loads more compassion" is still not a lot of compassion!) for the drug addict mom who delivered a preemie than for a person that shakes a baby. Maybe it's because the addict is fighting a terrible chemical addiction and probably has been fighting it for years. The person who shakes a baby just loses control. I know what it's like to have a baby that won't stop crying--I put my youngest in her crib many times, while she was screaming her head off, just so that I could have a break. It's a much safer solution than shaking a baby.

On a happier note, we went with our small group to see the movie "Fireproof." It is a movie about the importance of fighting for your marriage and the importance of faith to sustain marriage. There were parts of the movie that were funny, parts that made you think, and parts that made you get emotional. There was enough action that the husbands liked it, but enough emotion to keep everybody's attention. I highly recommend that ALL couples, whether engaged or married, see the movie!

Oh yes...Mandy has now missed 5 days of school this year. Her latest illness is an ear infection. Of course,the tube JUST fell out of that ear. Sigh...I wonder if that means she's going to need a third set of tubes?

I better go and get Mandy from school. We are going to go to the grocery store and then to the apple orchard. I plan on making homemade applesauce today!