Opinion: On Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bob Barr doesn’t hold back
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Perhaps an issue has fallen into the lap of Bob Barr that will give his little-noticed presidential campaign some traction -- especially among libertarian-minded Ron Paul backers who have not exactly flocked to Barr’s banner.
The issue would be the anticipated federal rescue of the tettering mortgage behemoths Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
The two major-party presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, both expressed general support for the move today, while reserving the right to quibble over the yet-to-be officially unveiled details.
But Barr, not surprisingly, will have none of all this. And he made that crystal-clear in several sharply worded quotes that were part of a release his campaign has released:
Congress set up the taxpayers for big losses when it established these quasi-government agencies to subsidize the housing industry, and then earlier this year voted to approve direct federal support for them. Policymakers should learn from the latest financial disaster and say never again. ... ... First, government subsidizes an industry. Then, after the industry crashes, government bails it out! The one factor that never changes is: the taxpayers lose. ... ... It is time to say no more. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to be privatized and sold off. And Congress must stop treating the federal government like a national soup kitchen for businesses in trouble.
Just asking: Who is the ‘agent of change’ on this matter?
-- Don Frederick