The phoniness of the Tea Party
After spending months trying to engage the Tea Party people on the policy level, I’ve plum given up. The movement hides its self-serving positions in a haze of self-contradiction. My new column:
TIME TO CALL TEA PARTY’S BLUFF
Tags: Medicare, politics, right wing, taxpayers, Tea Party
Taxpayers still suckers on mortgage lending
My latest column discusses the taxpayers’ enduring role as “suckers of last resort” on mortgage lending. Read TAXPAYERS AND HOUSING NEED A DIVORCE.
It also addresses dangerous political pandering on the subject of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while noting their outrageous deal as private profit-making companies enjoying “implicit” government guarantees on their mortgage-backed securities. The government has since taken over the companies.
“Submitted for your approval,” as Rod Serling used to say before each episode of Twighlight Zone. Here is a chart from The Washington Post showing just how closely Fannie Mae’s reported income matched the targets executives set to receive maximum bonuses.
Tags: housing, taxpayers, Wall Street
