Yesterday Investors.com posted an article entitled "The Price Of A Vote." The article deals with one aspect of the financial reform bill that was passed yesterday. One of the problems with the financial reform package that was passed was that no mention was made of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. These two entities (possibly the cause of the financial meltdown) will continue as before and will again and again be bailed out by taxpayer money. The financial reform bill does not address either entity in any way. One of the companies in the middle of the sub-prime meltdown was Countrywide Financial Corp. This company had a VIP Mortgage Program that has not received a lot of attention. That may change.
The top Republican member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa has been looking into this program. The program was not available to the general public.
According to the article:
"Countrywide has made 30 cut-rate loans to senators or Senate employees. A dozen of the VIP loans were made to customers who named the office of Sen. Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican, as their workplace. The remainder went to borrowers whose place of employment was designated as "U.S. Senate" or "U.S. senator."
"None of these loans with their favorable, below-market terms is available to the public. They were reserved for the few with political connections -- including Sen. Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who was the primary author of the financial reform bill."
The article further reports:
"Issa and the committee are trying to determine if Countrywide, one of the architects of the subprime mortgage problem and now owned by Bank of America, made these VIP loans to buy influence over legislation. But it hasn't been a smooth process.
"Rep. Edolphus Towns, the New York Democrat who runs the committee, is known to have received two mortgages from Countrywide's VIP program himself. He initially balked at issuing a subpoena for Countrywide's records before eventually doing so."
This Congress is a disgrace to America. The number of Congressmen using their office for their own personal gain is obscene. We need to remember the actions of these Congressmen in November. If a Congressman has accepted special loans or other favors based on his office, he needs to be voted out of office.
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