Rep. Mike Simpson, sleeping with Pelosi on the first date

e-mail I sent to Mike Simpson ~

Good job, sleeping with Nancy Pelosi on the first date.

You guys will have more leverage for a better bill on the next go around. Maybe if you didn't quit so easy you could get a capitol gains cut and stop Mark to Market.

Thank god there were some democrats to vote conservative or we wouldn’t have another shot at making this travesty easier to swallow.

Maybe you ought to listen to Newt Gingrich or Steve Forbes or maybe your constituents before you spend $700 billion dollars. Darrel Issa has a good plan why don’t you start pushing his bill while there is still time. A California representative more conservative that an Idaho one – wow.

Crapo stabbed me in the back last spring also, that is why I phoned your office, Crapo’s and Craig’s Friday, I never used to do that before a vote until Crapo stabbed me.

The two of you used to be pretty good but I have voted for you for the last time.

Daryl L. Hunter
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Hey Mr. Simpson here is a plan by the Republican Study Committee, an entity that evidently you are not a part of.



ECONOMIC RESCUE ALTERNATIVE PLAN
September 29, 2008

We believe that policymakers must act decisively and correctly.
We believe that we can help Wall Street “workout” of this crisis, not force the taxpayers into a “bailout.”
We believe that voluntary private capital, not involuntary taxpayer capital, will help the system recover.
A Work-Out—Not a Bail-Out

• Stabilizing Financial Markets:

Require the Treasury Department to guarantee losses up to 100%, resulting from the failure of timely payment and interest from mortgage-backed securities (MBS) originated prior to the date of enactment. Such insurance would provide immediate value to the MBS and a foundation for which they could then be sold.

• Risk-Based Premiums:

Direct the Treasury Department to assess a premium on outstanding MBS to finance this insurance. Participation in the program would be mandatory for all holders of such MBS in order to guard against adverse selection where only the holders of troubled assets participate. A risk-based premium would be assessed on those with troubled MBS. The premium would expire when the Treasury Secretary determines the fund has sufficient resources to meet any projected losses.

• Private-Capital Off the Sidelines by Empowering Private Investors Net Operating Losses:

Allow companies to carry-back losses arising in tax years ending in 2007, 2008, or 2009 back 5 years, generating a tax refund and immediate capital. Despite the presence of willing buyers, many firms with MBS are not willing to sell at such a huge loss. Such a carry-back provides a cushion for any such loss, making firms more willing sellers.

• Repatriation Infusion:

Allow a repatriation window for profits earned by U.S. firms overseas. Such repatriation amounts would be taxed at 0% if invested in distressed debt (as defined by Treasury) for at least one year.

• Bank Losses on GSE Stock:

Allow banks to treat losses on shares of preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as ordinary losses, not as capital losses.

• Two-Year Suspension of the Capital Gains:

Immediately suspend the capital gains rate from 15% for individuals and 35% for corporations. By encouraging corporations to sell unwanted assets, this provision would unleash funds and materials with which to create jobs and grow the economy. After the two-year suspension, capital gains rates would return to present levels but assets would be indexed permanently for any inflationary gains.

• Reforming a Failure in Government Institutions Limit Federal Backing for High Risk Loans:

Mandate that GSEs no longer securitize any unsound mortgage that is: (1) not fully documented to meet minimum requirements for work, assets, and income; (2) written to comply with any law or regulation that would otherwise violate a firm’s lending rules.

• Schedule the GSEs for Privatization:

Transition Fannie and Freddie over a reasonable time period to truly private companies without special government privileges and open them up to real market competition. This reform would 1) establish commonsense limits for their capital requirements and portfolio holdings relative their size, 2) focus their mission on affordable housing only, not profit making, 3) require them to pay an appropriate risk-based amount for the government guarantee they enjoy, 4) subject them to state and local taxes and accurate SEC filings like every other private for-profit corporation, and 5) ultimately provide for the phase out their GSE charters once their conservatorship has ended.

• Suspend “Mark to Market” Accounting:

Direct the SEC to suspend the mark-to-market regulatory rules until the agency can issue new guidelines that will allow firms to mark these assets to their true economic value. The current rules contribute to a downward spiral as firms have to evaluate their assets not on the basis of their long-term investment but rather on a short-term mania.

• Stabilize the Dollar:

Repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act which diverts the Federal Reserve’s attention from long-term price stability to short-term economic growth. In an effort to fuel the economy, this additional mandate has encouraged the Fed to keep rates artificially low, fueling economic boom and busts, and now a strong up-tick in inflation and the decline of the dollar (as investors free dollars for hard assets). This reform would require the Fed to establish a numerical definition for price stability and maintain a policy that promotes it over the long-term.

• Oversight and Corporate Accountability Executive Compensation Limits:

Require the Treasury to write rules prohibiting excessive compensation or golden parachutes to executives of failed companies at the expense of taxpayers.

• Strict Enforcement of Laws Designed to Protect Investors:

Task the SEC with reviewing the annual audit reports of entities the federal government has brought under conservatorship or now owns, and determine if those annual audit reports from years 2005 to present accurately reflected the financial health of those businesses.

Staff Contact: Russ Vought, 202-226-8581, russ.vought@mail.house

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending to minorities and uncreditworthy

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

New York Times ~ 1999: In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans. -------------------> More