My husband was out of town last night, soooo I got to watch whatever I wanted! I always am griping about his channel surfing but.. I was looking for international news (after watching a movie and several episodes of "House Hunters") and happened on C-Span's coverage of a committee of congresspeople interviewing two former Fannie Mae officials, Mr Mudd and Mr Levin.
I have always found it hard to believe that bureaucrats are the same species as I am. These men were very high up, Mr Mudd was the former CEO and Mr Levin the former CFO. You don't get to these positions without being smart and extremely crafty.
The interview was fascinating I dragged myself to bed at 11 and wished i could have listened to more. They were describing and defending their actions or inactions during the mortgage implosion. In a roundabout way it really explained what happened.
To me it was clear that much of this was a result of Fannie Mae's institutionalism. They were too locked into their systems - slow and creaky- to see what was going on in the world outside their offices. And truly they still don't understand. When Mr Mudd said the solution to the problem was standard 20% down mortgages for first time buyers, I realized that he truly didn't have any understanding about the real people who are buying Fannie Mae's product.
Lots of times it seems like this country would work better if you took all the top people, plunked them down in someplace like Sidney Montana or Gladewater Texas or my hometown Vale Oregon and told them they had to drive home without using any interstates - force them to get real.
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