WHILE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT CORRUPTION, A LOOK AT FREDDIE MAC AND FANNIE MAE’S LARGESSE:
Congress sets the rules in favor of Fan and Fred, which then repay the Members with cash from their rigged profit stream. This is the government lobbying itself for more government.
And, oh, what a stream of political cash it is. First, there are Fannie and Freddie’s political action committees, which have already distributed roughly $800,000 to U.S. House and Senate Members this election cycle. Nearly half of the Senators have received funds and almost all of the money is directed to incumbents. Fannie gave $10,000 to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, $10,000 to third-ranking House Democrat Rahm Emanuel, $5,000 to Barney Frank, $10,000 to Republican House whip Roy Blunt, $8,500 to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and $7,500 to Minority Leader John Boehner and . . . you get the picture. . . .
Then there are the “charitable” foundations. Freddie Mac’s foundation handed out $25 million to political groups, think tanks and other Beltway outfits in 2007 alone, more than any other foundation in the country, according to the Washington Business Journal. Guess which foundation ranked number two? Yep, Fannie Mae’s, which gave out $21 million.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: Via email, the following:
We have already notified the Wall Street Journal of their error, but can you please also make the correction.
Here:
Then there are the “charitable” foundations. Freddie Mac’s foundation handed out $25 million to political groups, think tanks and other Beltway outfits in 2007 alone, more than any other foundation in the country, according to the Washington Business Journal. Guess which foundation ranked number two? Yep, Fannie Mae’s, which gave out $21 million.
This is false. We told the WSJ those amounts made Fan and Fred the largest locally-based givers in the Washington area, only representing local giving…we have no stats on the rest of the country. Also, we do not track where the money goes. That’s information from the WSJ, not the Washington Business Journal.
Thanks in advance!
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Elizabeth Drachman
Managing editor
Washington Business Journal
So noted.