Gretchen Morgensen and Joshua Rosner's book exposes the central character of the great recession. His name is Jim Johnson and he ran Fannie Mae in the 1990's. He was the puppeteer who dangled Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to do his bidding. His henchman was Angelo Mozilo, his sponsor was Goldman Sachs and his victims are the American Tax Payer. What ever aspirations to greatness that James A. Johnson former CEO of Fannie Mae, Director of Goldman Sachs, Brooking Institute and The Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts had, this book thoroughly and irrevocably smashes it right now. This guy makes Bernie Madoff look like a Saint.
Besides marvelous character assassination richly deserved, this book makes very clear that "Government Sponsored Enterprises" such as Fannie Mae with one foot in government and the other in private enterprise is untenable. Fannie Mae took its unfair advantage of a government guarantee to lobby and secure additional advantages. It worked the books as shamelessly as Enron and Worldcom to enrich its executives. And it cynically got the ball rolling in a direction and speed that was sure to to end badly.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sheila Baird interview with Joe Nocera NY Times Magazne
Hard to believe that there was a government regulator who got it.
“Do you really think they should have let Bear fail?” Asked Joe Nocera.
“Let’s face it,” Sheila Baird responded. “Bear Stearns was a second-tier investment bank, with — what? — around $400 billion in assets? I’m a traditionalist. Banks and bank-holding companies are in the safety net. That’s why they have deposit insurance. Investment banks take higher risks, and they are supposed to be outside the safety net. If they make enough mistakes, they are supposed to fail. So, yes, I was amazed when they saved it. I couldn’t believe it. When they told me about it, I said: ‘Guess what: Investment banks fail.’ ”
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