Did Bank of America write the Dodd bailout bill?

Those following the progress of the Dodd-Shelby mortgage rescue plan in the Senate might want to check out two solid pieces of enterprising reporting on the bill this weekend.

First, the Examiner's Tim Carney reports that the bailout section of the Dodd-Shelby bill is, in the words a lobbyist, "exactly what Bank of America and Countrywide wanted." 

Is there a connection between Bank of America and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.)?  There is. Carney: "Bank of America's political action committee (PAC) has donated $20,000 to Dodd since he became chairman of the banking panel 17 months ago. From January 2007 to March 2008, Bank of America employees have donated at least $50,400 to Dodd's campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

National Review's the Corner follows up, citing an internal Bank of America document:

"National Review Online has obtained an internal Bank of America "discussion document" (PDF here) on the subject of the FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008, a.k.a. the Dodd-Shelby mortgage-lender bailout bill .... This discussion document (dated March 11, 2008) would appear to support the contention that BofA essentially wrote the bailout section of the bill."

Faithful readers of the blog will remember that Bank of America has been pushing hard for a big federal intervention for months. This was from a New York Times story on BofA's lobbying efforts back in February: "Bank of America suggested creating a Federal Homeowner Preservation Corporation that would buy up billions of dollars in troubled mortgages at a deep discount, forgive debt above the current market value of the homes and use federal loan guarantees to refinance the borrowers at lower rates. 'We believe that any intervention by the federal government will be acceptable only if it is not perceived as a bailout of the bond market,' the financial institution noted. In practice, taxpayers would almost certainly view such a move as a bailout."

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Hat tips: Mr. Mortgage, The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter and MN via e-mail.

Comments

[I live in LA, too]

To Uncle:

The top 5 shareholders of BofA, with shares held, are:

1. State Street Global Advisors (US) 165,337,874
2. Barclays Global Investors, N.A. 152,747,010
3. Vanguard Group, Inc. 136,495,660
4. Fidelity Management & Research 122,625,900
5. Capital Research Global Investors 117,041,640

[Pat]

In the end, it doesn't matter who wrote it. What matters is what it says. Will it help the majority of Americans? Is it a good deal? Based upon those criteria, I would say it fails.

[Nick]

I guess what makes this case different from the normal bribery, corruption, buying legislation cycle is that normally, the bought legislation arguably benefits the American people too, at least enough that there are intelligent people debating both sides. In this case, though, it seems like every intelligent person knows paying off the banks with taxpayer dollars is a bad idea for the American people, and for America in general. Plus, the audaciousness of the magnitude of this payoff is probably causing some otherwise ambivalent people to sit up and say, "wait a minute, Dodd & company are trying to steal 300 BILLION dollars from taxpayers, that's a bit more than the normal couple million dollar each pork barrel wastes. Why in the world should the taxpayers pay off the people who CAUSED the real estate bubble and collapse? That's insane."

Just a guess.

[Uncle Billy Banks On BofA]

Steve says: "This is the way it has been and always will be"

Wanna bet?

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

If there is one thing Roman senators knew well, it was they knew how to survive.

So, when Caesar was the alpha dog, they rendered everything they had unto Caesar, including a few daggers...

And when everyone was rendering unto the Church everything he or she owned, the senatorial families all wanted their sons or daughters to the Pope.

That's what happened to the ancient Orsini family who besides producing senators who kept the benches warm at the Curia, also sired a few Popes both before and after Raphael decorated one of the Papal bedrooms.

What's the lesson here? Just beware of sweet-talking senators!

[Uncle Billy Banks On BofA]

Thanks, ILILAtoo.

[Uncle Bill]

Those banks are the top shareholders in BofA because they sponsor indexes that contain the stock. That's why Barclay's keeps showing up everywhere. If you don't know that, you should stick to reading instead of writing because you're a neophyte.

[I live in LA, too]

The top three on that list are index funds. The next two are not.

[Jane]

I just wrote my congressmen recently about the terrible decisions and bills being passed over the past few years and told them straight out that I'm telling everyone I know to please vote incumbents out! This is utterly ridiculous that Americans aren't OUTRAGED! Our Congress is passing bill after bill that makes even hard-working Americans not want to work! Give us our money back! Give us our liberties back!

[Uncle Billy Offers Uncle Bill A Chair]

Uncle Bill: What's your point -- that they don't make money from sponsoring and managing? That they don't influence the behavior of banks? Plenty of mutual fund biggies in that list too... remember how we learned in 2003 that we shouldn't trust mutual funds to govern themselves? That when we're not looking they do creepy things like play favorites with their investors? You seem a little angry. How come?

[NewEnergyWorks]

Welcome to the United Corporations of America!

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
Thomas Jefferson, 1812

Corporations are not only defying the laws of the country, they are writing them!

Have we lost our government?