At Lease It Has Some Value As Comedy

Outrage is such a rare commodity it was a breath of fresh air to find out yesterday, when the wiretaps of Governor Blagojevich of Illinois offering a Senate seat up for sale were made public, that we were still capable of it.

Another outrage is happening right in front of our eyes, and it seems that most people are willing to just let it slide. I refer to the hearings on the collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae:

Is this what you call chutzpah? Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut has demanded that the chief executive officer of General Motors resign because of the management of GM during his tenure.

Isn’t this the same Sen. Dodd who along with his House counterpart Rep. Barney Frank continued over the years to tell the public that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fine upstanding organizations with no financial problems while they were in fact in the process of collapsing?

Additionally, wasn’t Sen. Dodd the one who took sweetheart loan deals from Countrywide Financial? Why are there no demands for Sen. Dodd to resign from the U.S. Senate?

Why indeed?

Go Figure

Data which is to be issued by the OCC and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) next week could throw cold water on a push by some U.S. policymakers for loan modifications as the key remedy for the ailing U.S. financial and economic crisis.

Dugan said recent data showed that after three months, nearly 36 percent of borrowers who received restructured mortgages in the first quarter re-defaulted.

The rate of re-default jumped to about 53 percent after six months and 58 percent after eight months, Dugan said, without providing an explanation for the trend.

So, after 6 months, 6 out of 10 mortgages that have been renegotiated are again in default.

Here's a hint: not everyone can afford to own a house.