First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Socialist.
because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Trade Unionist.
because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew.
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
“Groundhog
Day?” & “Groundhog Day?”
I just could slug in my last set of GSE comments, i.e.
“it’s all about Steve Mnuchin’s approval in the Senate” and be done with this
blog segment, especially since that event is pending.
A Mnuchin vote in the Senate Finance Committee, reportedly,
is set for tonight (Monday) and, if successful, should clear the way for his
full Senate vote soon after, possibly before week’s end.
That will be a crucial first step in righting the GSE
ship—and a major one—but our fight hardly is over.
As we’ve all seen—through eight years of
Conservatorship--with the Congress, Obama Administration, the Conservative think
tanks, media, business, building and financial trade association opponents, and
other advocates for diminishing if not destroying the GSEs, the Fannie/Freddie “shit
wall” in DC is high and deep, carefully constructed and well maintained by
legions.
They ain’t giving up and they will pour like ants from the
woodwork the minute anything GSE-positive occurs, peddling their reborn stories
and fresh allegations—employing their usual political sycophants!
The terrain has gotten a little better—thanks to the
exposure brought by a lot of new actively communicating voices, especially
Fannie’s former CFO Tim Howard and his excellent blog, Investors Unite, and
“White Ghost,” who authors GSE Links--and
the many plaintiffs lawyers and their superb briefs, i.e. see Chuck Cooper and
Hamish Hume, and others.
Steve Mnuchin at Treasury could facilitate the improvement,
heavily, but with solid footholds in both congressional chambers, media, the paid
lobbying community, etc. etc. the trick bag, delays, forced compromises,
obfuscation, demand the Trump Administration’s most resolute, determined,
non-deviating actions to resurrect Fannie and Freddie and allow them to do their
job.
IMO, the ironic political flip side to this active pro-GSE
strategy is that it will end up bathing the new Trump White House in consumer
glory with the very people to whom he vaguely promised so very much.
The nation’s TBTF banks and their allies still will do
well, as they always have when the GSEs were ascendant, and, indeed, as they
have over the past eight years.
But the fresh delivery of copious amounts of GSE market
shaped mortgage finance liquidity to all corners of the US, in fair and
equitable ways, will—as it should if Mnuchin et al follow through—be political
manna falling into Donald Trump’s lap. I hope he “grabs it!” (A little humor there.)
That will be the Trump Admin’s major reward and with very
little cost, if the proper GSE regulation and capitalization is put in place.
Perversely, it will exactly be the gilded legacy which
Barack Obama turned his back in the past year.
I haven’t’ gotten a good answer yet when I ask, “Who at DoJ
is making their procedural decisions regarding the many GSE lawsuits and to
what end?”
I know Senator Sessions (R-Ala.) still is awaiting Senate
blessing as the new AG, but the former Obama crew or Justice Department
careerists can’t/shouldn’t be making ritual GSE policy, absent direction.
Trump,
Trump, Trump
I’m agog with the multitude of DJT pronouncements and
actions in his first 10 days in office and am trying—as I promised—to see if I
am missing any Trump brilliance inside the china shop destruction he’s
conducting.
Inauguration
First off, he should drop the inaugural crowd issue. Few
Americans, one way or the other, care. It was what it was. From someone who
lives in the area, the crowd was small.
Voting
Review and Analysis
Yes. I’d love to see a thorough review/analysis
of last November’s voting activity, but done by a Select Committee of
Congress, not the White House or a sitting congressional committee because of
the possibility of those last two results would being discounted as “fake
news.”
Russia
Have you talked to your wife and in-laws—who once lived
very close to Russia (and the then Soviet Union)--asking what she thinks of Russia’s
government, rule of law, international integrity, fairness, and reliability
when dealing with us, the world’ s greatest democracy, as we all like to brag?
Also, ask Ivanka and Jared Kushner, if you haven’t already,
what serious Jews think of Russia, its history of generational corruption,
shortages, pogroms, cut throat, and
crazy politics where death often accompanies opposition to the central
authority and then share with the nation what they tell you if it changes your
rosy Putin view?
You may be a deal maker, but Vlad is a killer, who doesn’t
care about those across the table from him, no matter how rich he gets from new
hotels and golf courses in Russia.
Oh, and Steve Bannon is a very dangerous person, who should
be kept at arm’s length if not quarantined.
The
Wall and Tariffs
Please note the better approach to Southern border security
which the Senate approved two years ago, but at which the House R’s balked.
They cost the nation, then.
What the GOP Senate did—with D support--made more sense
but, frankly, there’s no wall you can build high enough that desperate people
can breech, go over or under.
Mexico’s a huge trading partner and despite your campaign
rhetoric and the 1950’s appeal for “Fortress
America,” you can’t time travel back be try and build it in an era when
there is so much international commerce that relies on accessible borders and
free cross border trade.
When other nations retaliate, on whom will you blame their
logical response and the plummeting appeal of Trump products?
As a major exporter, we’re vulnerable.
Immigration
OK, you made a campaign promise and now you are following
through, based on what you think you see happening in Europe and elsewhere and
trying to keep from America the people you believe are responsible for civilian
carnage and terrorist attacks, plus paying a little religious politics to
appeal to you know who/what.
But, there are meat axes and there are scalpels. There is
unintended consequences and there is deft.
Yes, we have more nukes, but we’ve always had more. The
coming conflicts are not going to be fought—I hope—with nuclear weapons.
Are you looking sufficiently enough at who—possibly those already
in the US—may be so discouraged or incensed by your well-meant, albeit, clumsy
actions “go rogue” and commit the very acts you are trying to prevent, as well
as how the nation’s international allies see your actions?
BTW, the Kremlin apparatchiks are applauding your
immigration stand, dapping to one another (ask Omarosa), and gleefully slapping
themselves on the back; ditto ISIS and Al Queda.
Here’s an excerpt from one editorial NYT comment on
President’s latest actions:
The order
lacks any logic. It invokes the attacks of Sept. 11 as a rationale, while exempting the countries of origin of all the hijackers
who carried out that plot and also, perhaps not coincidentally, several
countries where the Trump family does business. The document does not
explicitly mention any religion, yet it sets a blatantly unconstitutional
standard by excluding Muslims while giving government officials the discretion
to admit people of other faiths.
The
order’s language makes clear that the xenophobia and Islamophobia that
permeated Mr. Trump’s campaign are to stain his presidency as well. Un-American
as they are, they are now American policy. “The United States must ensure that
those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its
founding principles,” the order says, conveying the spurious notion that all
Muslims should be considered a threat. (It further claims to spare America from
people who would commit acts of violence against women and those who persecute
people on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation. A president who
bragged about sexually assaulting women and a vice president who has supported
policies that discriminate against gay people might well fear that standard
themselves.)
(Read Senators John McCain’s (R-NM) and Lindsay Graham’s
(R-SC) Sunday night statement, too. These are not partisan Democrats.)
Maloni,
1-30-2017
