About 21/2 years ago, Barack Hussein Obama and his goon squads were in high dudgeon over scheduled bonus payments to financial executives. Even though the bonuses were perfectly legal, and at least in some cases richly deserved, Obama couldn't help but to serve up a fresh serving of Chicago-style class warfare: "You guys are drawing down $10 million, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in decades? And you caused the problems?"
He even threatened financial executives with violence.
"My administration," he said, "is the only thing between you and the pitchforks."
And just to drive the point home, his ACORN thugs chartered buses and visited each of the executive's homes. The message was clear: We know where you live and we're just waiting for the word from Obama.
Another of his Chicago goon squads was even less subtle. National People's Action bused 700 people from 20 states to hold a demonstration on the doorstep of Bank of America's general counsel Gregory Baer.
The NPA even has its own revolutionary song book. Below is an excerpt from one of their greatest hits.
"Who's on your hit list NPA?
"Who's on your hit list for today?
"Take no prisoner, take no names.
"Kick 'em in the ass when they play their games."
Lovely, huh? This is the environment that Obama stoked two years ago.
Why bring it up today? Well, that's because the financial institutions that really are most responsible for the financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are paying out millions of dollars in bonuses to their executives even though these parasitic entities have soaked the taxpayers for $169 billion so far and have asked for billions more to tide them over until the next time they stick their hand out. These two government-sponsored enterprises are expected to eventually drain the treasury of between $220 billion and $311 billion, assuming there are no more exploding cigars.
In spite of these losses, the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collected $17 million in pay last year. In 2009 and 2010, the top six executives of these government-sponsored mortgage giants pocketed $35 million in bonuses.
And yet, we have not heard a word of outrage from all those who were threatening mayhem in 2009. According to the standards of 2009, not one of these executives should be paid until Fannie and Freddie pay back every penny of the hundreds of billions of dollars they've soaked the taxpayer for so far.
This is Obama, circa 2009: "I didn't run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street.
"It offends our fundamental values.
"If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, then they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers."
What follows is a comprehensive list of all the threats and criticisms issuing from the White House directed at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for paying out lavish executive compensation while soaking the taxpayer to cover their own mismanagement.
That 's right. Nothing.
So why the silence on Fannie and Freddie?
The answer is obvious. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are taxpayer-underwritten creatures of the Democratic Party. We had a mortgage meltdown precisely because Fannie and Freddie did what Democrats wanted them to do, underwrite loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them back. And Fannie and Freddie have been money trees for Democrats over the years.
It was quite amusing to see the mainstream media attempt to create a scandal out of Newt Gingrich's consulting contract with Freddie Mac.
They saw nothing wrong with the entanglements that just about every Democrat has with Fannie and Freddie.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac facilitated the mortgages that Bill Clinton forced mortgage lenders to write during the 1990s. When George W. Bush tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie, he was condemned as, among other things, a racist.
Ironically, the Democrat policy-driven mortgage meltdown hit African-American households hardest of all. The average black household lost more than 90 percent of its net worth when the housing market crashed. They were encouraged to purchase houses they couldn't afford, and when they couldn't make their payments they lost everything.
No wonder the Democrats want to blame the banks. And it's no wonder they're silent on Fannie and Freddie's complicity.
---
Costello is a research technician at Washington State University. His email address is kozmocostello@hotmail.com.
