A Picture Worth 1,000 Words About The Bailout
This picture from the New York Times showing Democrats after the bailout agreement is just plain frightening (it has since been replaced in the article by a picture showing Treasury Sec. Paulson in the middle of the picture).
What are we seeing there?
Well, front and center, we see Barney Frank. The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The man who, when the Bush administration tried to push Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac reforms through Congress in 2003, said that the government sponsored entities “aren’t in crisis.”
Peering over Frank’s shoulder and laughing like a hyena we see Senator Chris Dodd. Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Recipient, along with his Democrat colleague and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad, of VIP “friends of Angelo” loans from Countrywide Mortgage CEO Angelo Mozilo in exchange for pushing another mortgage industry bailout through Congress earlier this year. Dodd is also the all time leader in contributions received from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Flanking Frank on either side are Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Despite Democrat efforts to torpedo Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac reform throughout the Bush administration, Pelosi has said that Democrats bear no responsibility for the current crisis and accused Republicans of being unpatriotic on the issue. Reid, on the other hand, has busied himself over the last several days trying to pork up any bailout plan with lots of extra goodies funded at taxpayer’s expense.
All in all, not a very inspiring picture is it?
