Friday, September 19, 2008

As a Lobbyist, Rick Davis Claimed that Fannie and Freddie Reduce Systemic Risk

It takes unbelievable gall for McCain to try to pin Obama to Fannie and Freddie when his current campaign manager and numerous other McCain campaign officials lobbied (see Halperin and Aravosis for some great documentation) on behalf of the GSEs.

But not only did Rick Davis lobby for Fannie and Freddie, I dug up (really a simple google search) this letter Davis wrote to OFHEO in 2001 (PDF) where he makes the argument that not only did Fannie and Freddie not pose a threat of systemic risk but he actually claims that they decreased systemic risk:

"Still others have and will try to make the argument to OFHEO that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac create systemic risk. Those that say that do so either because they are hostile to homeownership or because they have competitive needs to try to hamper the two most efficient private sector engines for homeownership. The Homeownership Alliance hopes that OFHEO will scrutinize the motives of those who make such claims.
Any objective analysis of the roles played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would show that they in fact reduce systemic risk while anchoring a housing finance system in which consumers have the upper hand."

How Rick Davis even has a campaign job after writing that in the aftermath of the Fannie and Freddie disaster is beyond me. Could you imagine if that was David Plouffe? Maybe some journalist can ask McCain about Davis' quote.

But I guess making wrong predictions that should humiliate most of us actually is a badge of honor with McCain (I'm thinking of you Kevin Hassett --author of "Dow 36000" and McCain advisor)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yet another case of exceedingly poor judgment by McCain and his advisers. They attack Obama's contributions from employees of Fannie and Freddie and yet McCain's are 10 times higher. PLUS his top campaign adviser and strategist raked in millions and did everything he could to shield Fannie and Freddie from scrutiny. Did they think no one would put two and two together? McCain thankfully is sabotaging himself.