Kirk Williams, #LMA 510-LO-32537

Welcome to the Republic of Wall Street formally known as the United States of America. Once again "we the people" are being used as collateral to bail out the incompetence of our elected officials. The original focus was the point of origination but finally the real culprits are getting the exposure they deserve.

Certainly lenders have a role in this and nobody will defend them just look at all the print and media coverage. What has been missed all this time and is the epicenter or ground zero to this calamity has been the free wheeling secondary market Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac & racketeer friends on wall street. You can't find them now because they are floating away with the help of their golden parachute. (the recent exception to this is Fannie/Freddie CEO's).

Two men I have tremendous respect for and trust is Henry Paulsen (Treasury Secretary) and Ben Bernanke (Fed Chairman). They have been put into a no win situation and have been asked to square off with the Senate Banking Comittee to sit and listen to the sound of hot air coming out of Chris Dodd, (the chair of Banking Committee) and the other blow-hards on both sides of the political isle.

Now that the curtain has been pulled back we now with clarity can follow the money. Senator Elizabeth Dole (R) North Carolina in today's hearing points out that in 2005 the then Fed Chairman Greenspan warned that if Fannie & Freddie are not regulated the results will be a calamity in the markets. She also pointed out that when efforts were made to follow the recommendations 100 million was spent by the lobbyists for Fannie and Freddie to prevent more regulation. Obviously the lobbyist won and that is why we are here today.

By the way Chris Dodd (D) Mass the Chair overseeing the Banking Committee was the number one benefactor in campaign donations from Fannie/Freddie. Presidential candidate Obama was the second. Believe me there is blame throughout this entire congress. This Bush administration, the last three including Clinton, Bush 41 & Reagan administrations so this problem is bi-partisan in nature and the reason we are here today.

Listening to the questions from the senators wanting specifics quantified for them is laughable. Have you ever heard of any politician when they make promises or offer up a solution quantify those promises or solutions? Then the capper and there is always one idiot politician that asks...."Do you think Wall Street owes Americans an apology?" Are you kidding me? I hope that idiot finds a mirror and asks that question again replacing Wall Street with Congress!

This is a sad day for our system politically and financially. Strip this all back and the blame goes to our representatives....all of them. Give them a call or write to them and let them have it....THEY DESERVE IT!

POLITICIANS HIT BOTTOM

History tells us again and again how money influences the politician. We are witnessing the results of years and years of pocket lining to our politicians from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other "money houses". The chickens have come home to roost.

If you think "your" political party is immune and has the higher moral ground or corners the market in enlightenment then you are delusional. If you still think it (your party) does after reading the previous statement then you are an idiot. I am begging you not to vote because you're an idiot if you think your party is clean on this.

Why such venom you may be asking? As noted in my previous blogs over and over again the lack of oversight by the SEC, ALL the regulatory agencies, the House of Representatives and their committees and the Senate and their Banking/Finance committees is of staggering proportions. I mean STAGGERING proportions.

The level of incompetence by Pelosi, Reid, Barney Frank, Chirs Dodd, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Bush 41, Ragan, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Abama, Ted Kennedy Joe Biden, Bob Dole, Robert KKK Byrd, Bill Frist -- so many losers/criminals so little time. I can go on for days with more names....All of them should loose their pensions for gross incompetence and for putting self interest or self preservation in front of what needed to be done and managed in this country.

I know I sound like a crazy-man right now but consider this. YOU ARE NOW COLLATERAL. That's right you are collateral just like your house or car. The government is printing money to pay off the bad behavior of the money houses, the rating agencies and yes bad behavior by the lenders. After making billions it is costing us the tax payer billions and they (the fat cats) go home with the money and guess what that means for you and me?

The reason why you are collateral is payola. Money given to the politicians by the special interest groups that represent all the players you are reading about in the news today. Does that sound too simple for you? It should because it IS that simple. There is no other explanation. They all are career politicians and no matter who was in control or in office for how long the bottom line is all this was happening in front of them and they KNEW there were problems. They acknowledged it in the 90's but payola got to them. THEY WERE GETTING COMPLAINTS FROM THE STATES all over the country and they were ignored by BOTH parties because payola got to them.

The number one "Bad Guy" in the lending world a few years ago was the national sponsor for the NFL so when I say it was right in front of them I am meaning right in front of them- yes your beloved representative.

Did this happen over night? NO and HELL NO. Once upon a time not so long ago the economy expanded more exotic "thinking" was occurring then in the 90's we were getting more exotic and everybody was getting rich and the money was pouring into politicians pockets like a down pour. Everybody slapping each other on the back taking credit for the strong economy and getting rich themselves.

Everyone of the above names dead or alive are well off and many of them earned it the old fashioned way....payola!

Now I do apologize for this crude presentation but I cannot emphasize enough the function of oversight. Have you ever noticed when something big happens congress starts rushing for the cameras (stuffing money from the special interests on their way to the cameras) only to tell the public what they are going to "do for us"? Then a bunch of regulations pop up usually bad ones that need to be fixed later but this all happens because of LACK OF OVERSIGHT. They are too busy filibustering over whether we should have a symbolic vote about something that means nothing to nobody but them!

If they did their oversight we wouldn't need bad regulation just regulation that would correct as we went along. A tune up here or a tune up there. Instead we have this calamity and in the end the stewards of our country failed miserably. They try to deflect it off themselves by searching for someone to blame and there are villains but they need to look inward to find them.

It's yet to be determined the total cost but it will cost us all very dearly and some very nice people will be victimized because of their pensions being devalued or wiped out, the loss of jobs because of the frozen credit markets and so it goes. There will be no corner of this economy that will go untouched.

I have never felt so sad. I am an optimist by nature and my trade requires it. But I am very sad for all of us. I hope "we the people" have learned that we cannot sit and let our representation talk down to us anymore. I hope you become your own little activist. Write a letter you can do it on line. Pick up the phone. Go to one of their fund raisers and raise hell. One click and you can email your representative or vote them out.

There are good things going on out there. We all have to keep on keepin' on. Rates are still low. There are great values in real estate. I have plenty of money to lend despite what the media wishes to report. Other sectors of our economy keep plugging. Prudence and nose to the grind stone is what we can do for our country and ourselves. If you see someone in need help them. Pay it forward. Eventually we will come out of this but we must keep our representatives feet on the fire.

I think this is the weirdest blog I have ever posted but it is how I feel about the state of all of this just now. I am disgusted. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better.

Good luck to us all.