I am plain tempted to simply have an opinion the exact opposite of this man, Barney Frank...he screwed us up for years and contines to be listened to.

"Barney Frank On Auto Bailouts
Tells 60 Minutes A Bailout Would Help People, Not Companies"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4663945.shtml

Not the correct way to form an opnion but this guy (along with a few others) just plain scares me and seems to get away with anything they want. In my opinion, he sold his soul to the unions years ago !!!!

Barney Frank has been scaring voters in Massachusetts for over 20 years right alongside Ed Markey and Ted Kennedy. They're all cut from the same cloth and it's getting darned musty if you ask me. Time for a good laundering.

Originally Posted by captain1202

Barney Frank has been scaring voters in Massachusetts for over 20 years right alongside Ed Markey and Ted Kennedy. They're all cut from the same cloth and it's getting darned musty if you ask me. Time for a good laundering.

If he has been scaring voters for 20 years why do they re-elect him every 2 years.....

Originally Posted by cologal

If he has been scaring voters for 20 years why do they re-elect him every 2 years.....

The same reason why there's never a "flush" in Congress and these folk hang on 15-20-30-40 years - 2 years at a time. The cost to compete against a person who can basically get all the media attention for free s/he wants, coupled with the "pork" in the way of deals, jobs and favors they can hand out, make it darned difficult to unseat a House incumbent.

Just look at the situation in Florida Congressional District Number 5. The incumbent (and recently re-elected) Hon. Ginny Brown-Waite gets her message to the voters a couple times a year via Congressionally-paid mailings. In addition, she can attend as an honored and sought guest at every business opening or event in the District, and the press follows her and there is a photo opportunity. In short, she is able to establish and maintain "brand" recognition, while any opponent needs to outspend at a ten-to-one ratio to get any comparable name recognition.

This is not to say or insituate that Ms. Brown-Waite is or has been a lousy congressperson. On the contrary, as her record shows a level of independence from the Administration in favor of her district versus her party. However, the honor of being a Congressperson (that's why they call them "Honorable") was never intended to be a career job, and one would like to think there are other persons in the District who can fulfill the role and responsibilities, and that a sufficient number of these "other persons" exist so as to be able to replace the incumbent after a term or two. If the position of congressperson becomes a "career," then it's no longer government "of the people," but rather government "by the clique."

Originally Posted by cologal

If he has been scaring voters for 20 years why do they re-elect him every 2 years.....

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 !!

Originally Posted by cologal

If he has been scaring voters for 20 years why do they re-elect him every 2 years.....

I have lived 38 mi. from Boston my whole life and have not met one person that would give you 2 cents for Barney Frank. He seems to derive his support from inside the rt 495 belt where the high concentration of college related voters, students and staff, live.

There has always been a political, economic, and social difference in thinking in the rest of MA as opposed to the "Boston" thinkers.