Today's Entertainment

Anyone who reads this thing will know I'm totally obsessed with digging up everything bad
Fannie Mae did.
Hey, it's good entertainment you know!

Let's start with something which really looks hilarious in hindsight with the
accounting mess and all.

"Fannie Mae has always been a leader in terms of our commitment to disclosure and transparency. By certifying our financial statements and other disclosures, Tim and I are personally attesting to the accuracy, completeness and integrity of our public disclosures."
- Franklin D Raines, CEO and Tim Howard, CFO, 2002

It's so ironic when you contrast it with the statement below :
Cautionary Note Regarding Certain Previously Reported Financial Results - Investors and others should not rely on annual or quarterly financial information published prior to December 2004.
~ Fannie Mae website, 2009

I mean, their credibility was just totally wrecked. Broken to pieces.
Any talk of "integrity" was pretty much meaningless.

Wad's more audacious was that, Franklin Raines actually dared to claim there was conspiracy by the White House and other government officials to bring him down after he was being investigated for fraud.

I'm not kidding here. The fact is :
In 2007 , Raines subpoenaed the White House for what his lawyers called
“evidence that officials in the most powerful office in the country were part
of a plan to influence the political debate about Fannie Mae.”
Wow. An ex-CEO accusing the White House of a conspiracy.
Imagine, for instance, Bill Gates saying "there was a plan by the White House to ruin Microsoft" and getting away with it? Wtf is that.

Did I mention that FNM was paying all his legal bills as part of his severance package?
So he can basically employ the best lawyers in the country to sue whoever he wanted for fun?

Lemme tell you waht the real conspiracy is:
It is inflating earnings to the tune of $9 billion dollars
so that all the execs get paid their fat bonuses amounting to millions of dollars year aft year
while claiming,
to be doing what's in the best interest of American public in helping them
achieve the "Dream of Homeownership"

Which is exactly what Franklin Raines and his team did.

Fannie claiming that the conspiracy against Fannie brought them down
is like Bear Stearns claiming that the short sellers brought them down.

I'm not denying that many ppl hated the ways of Fannie Mae (myself included)
or that short sellers had no part to play in Bear Stearns demise.

But in both cases, the companies told lies to Wall Street and to their investors.
When you tell lies, it's hard not to have people hate you or sell your stock short.
I mean, there are those who hate Berkshire Hathaway n even those who tried sell it short
(LTCM tried unsuccessfully), but hey, it's still alive and kicking.
In fact, Warren Buffett still remains one of the richest men in the world.

End of the day, those guys only have themselves to blame.
Shame on them!