Good question...this is a man who in 2003, yes 2003, when Alan Greenspan warned as follows when referring to Fannie mae and Freddie Mac

"What we're trying to avert is we have in our financial system right now two very large and growing financial institutions which are very effective and are essentially capable of gaining market shares in a very major market to a large extent as a consequence of what is perceived to be a subsidy that prevents the markets from adjusting appropriately, prevents competition and the normal adjustment processes that we see on a day-by-day basis from functioning in a way that creates stability. . . . And so what we have is a structure here in which a very rapidly growing organization, holding assets and financing them by subsidized debt, is growing in a manner which really does not in and of itself contribute to either home ownership or necessarily liquidity or other aspects of the financial markets. . . .



This was Mr Frank's response...

"I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing"

and added "I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists."


He, in a position, to do something about it....but we are not to blame him for any of the current problems !!