Dejavu all over again

Yes we saw it before. In 2008 the economy dropped, collapsed, you name it. Now after being a cause of the 2008 collapse Fannie Mae is hitting us in the Fanny one more time. They needed a bail out of 185 Billion, Now they are spending 180 Million for new offices, and they are back to the failed lending of yesteryear.

Federal Spending: Given half-trillion-dollar deficits, this is supposed to be an era of belt-tightening for governmental agencies. But you wouldn't know it from the fat-and-happy spending by some of them.

Fannie Mae and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for example, have both announced they're moving on up into glitzy new downtown Washington, D.C., office buildings costing taxpayers hundreds of millions.

Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise that insures home mortgages, is relocating into luxurious new offices near the K Street lobbyist district. The move will cost at least $180 million in relocation and the premium rent payments.

Isn't this the same Fannie Mae that along with its sister organization, Freddie Mac, required $185 billion in taxpayer bailout funds during the housing meltdown?

This stunning act of arrogance just five years after it took taxpayers to the cleaners should hasten
Congress into action in terms of severing Fannie's umbilical chord to the federal Treasury.
The "new" Fannie Mae announced late last year it will return to its old bag of tricks of offering taxpayer guarantees on mortgages with down payments as low as 3%. This is exactly the flimflam lending policy that created the 2006-08 housing bubble in the first place.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has been investigating ways to rein in this rogue agency, and isn't happy about the expensive new digs. Fannie's lease is for "what appears to be very expensive real estate," he told the Washington Post, adding: "We've tried to press for some level of cost-benefit analysis. We have not gotten it."

Not to be outdone, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the controversial agency created by the Dodd-Frank banking bill and pushed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — is spending $215 million to "renovate" its office building.

The white elephant project, which was first reported by Watchdog.org, will cost more per square foot than a five-star resort in Las Vegas. It has elegant glass staircases and a water wall with a splash pool.
Will there be a spa, hot tubs and a penthouse-level night club? Just asking.

The inspector general's office has thrown a penalty flag, saying the expenditures are "not in accordance with the agency's current policies for major investment." The IG also protested that there may not be a "sound business case" to "support the funding of the renovation."

The irony of the CFPB's extravagance is obviously lost on its director, Richard Cordray, an Obama acolyte who rails against the lifestyles of the richest 1%. He dismisses as "ridiculous" the "notion we are building some kind of palace."

The CFPB is supposed to be a watchdog agency that protects the interests of consumers and taxpayers. It levels fines on banks and other financial institutions for shady practices. The watchdog is hardly leading by example.


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