Is MSM reporting that Palin thought Fannie & Freddie were taxpayer funded?

?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/08/palin-makes-her-first-gaf_n_124792.html

Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend.

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, saying it demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues likely to face the next administration.

"You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country's mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn't speak well for her, I'd say."

and then were taken private (maybe 10 years ago I
thought?). They continued to have the appearance
of being "quasi-government" organizations, even
though they had shareholders. Bottom line is, it's
a gaffe but not a huge one. There are plenty of
BIGGER LIES we can nail her on ...

being taken over by the Feds, and if she doesnt understand the fundamentals of this story what ELSE doesn't seh understand. People EXPECT politicians to lie, but expect them to be competent. This kind of gaffe illustrates how similar these 2 are to the incompetenet B*sh admin.

i am learning because i listened to the news & read stuff on du. americans probably didn't know but this crap has been in the news. it is no excuse. she is starting to believe her own hype.

she shoudl be smart enough NOT TO COMMENT on things she doesn't understand. Maybe intro her to the google?

Oy gevalt.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

& this is like the 3rd or 4th post about the Palin & FM/FM issue today.

Geee, how does everyone know about this if the MSM won't report it?

Um despite Fanny Mae (FNMA) being publicly owned company it does cost tax payers billions of dollars. About $5 billion per year. Since inception it likely has cost taxpayers about 1/4 TRILLION. Why?/How? FNMA can borrow money form US government at very low rate (<2%) to provide necessary liquidity. They are a lender of last resort so can be forced by other banks to accept loans. If more loans are comming in then going out FNMA will be short cash. They borrow cash from US Govt at WELL BELOW market rate.

But wait you say how does US govt pay for he cash? We are in $10T national debt. They borrow more money.
So FNMA gets money at <2% and US govt borrows at 5%-7%. FNMA pays the principle (+2%) back to govt but govt borrowed money at 6%. So taxpayer loses 4% on every dollar FNMA borrows.

A personal way to look at it is. I want a car so you loan me the $20K. I pay you in full over couple years. I am never late or miss payment. However you are a good friend so you give me an interest free loan. Durring the loan YOU run into hard times so you need to take a home equity loan. I am paying you back @ 0% but you are paying bank back at 5%. Good deal for me (FNMA). Good deal for bank (US debt holders). Not so good deal for you.

It really is a shitty deal for taxpayers. Bankers get instant liquidity. They can buy and sell loans and clear them from their books. FNMA gets stuck w/ loans and when they need cash govt loans it to FNMA.
Bankers = big win
Brokers = big win
Wall Street = big win
Treasure Bond Holders (China) = medium win (more debt = higher interest rates)
Homeowners = small win (easier to get loans since higher liquidity in market)
Taxpayer = huge stick in the *ss.



Now I will bet $1,000 that Palin had no idea about this. However since her statements are ambigous when the media finally calls her on it either she (or a surogate) will pounce that "OF COURSE IT COSTS TAXPAYERS" and that is why it is a problem. She wins by pure dumb luck.

was harping on it, otherwise they would have missed the story.

Credit for drawing attention to it goes to HuffPo.

It simple picks things up from the MSM and then re-broadcasts them.

The Huffingtonpost post LINKS TO THE MSM as its source!

CHECK... THE... LINKS of the post!

Source for Huffington Post: * Posted on Saturday, September 6, 2008
Candidates briefed on seizure of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Tribune: article published September 7, 2008

Huffington Post: September 8, 2008 11:50 AM

Kinda hard for the Huffington to get the Tribune to pick it up, when THE TRIBUNE PUBLISHED ITS ARTICLE FIRST.

The Chicago Tribune does its own reporting, and its article came out BEFORE the Huffington Post picked it up from the MSM news feeds

HuffPo raised the hubbub FIRST.

And she will be controlled by the people behind Cheney.

a stonecold fool.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/a-confusing-com.html




http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/palins-bailout-statement-raises-questions/


The LATimes blog doesn't even register the question. Guess he must take her at her word.

Peter Viles, senior producer for Real Estate at LATimes.com, has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and CNN,



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/09/obama-mccain-bl.html