Falcon...a regulator...a video...and we have been taken over.

Please America view this.

This is who is fixing the problem...they created. Wake up America. Wake UP!!!!!



Top Regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Depart
By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: April 6, 2005

WASHINGTON, April 5 - Armando Falcon Jr., the top regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage finance giants that have struggled through accounting scandals, announced on Tuesday that he would step down next month after a tumultuous tenure of nearly six years.

Mr. Falcon was a little-known Washington lawyer and former Congressional aide when he was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999 to head a small agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, known as Ofheo. He and his agency were often the target of political attacks by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and were ridiculed by lawmakers who viewed the office as ill-equipped to oversee such large companies.


Perhaps the lowest point in his tenure came in 2003, when his agency declared that Freddie Mac had effective auditing and internal controls shortly before the company disclosed that shortcomings in its accounting had caused it to misstate earnings by billions of dollars over several years.

But Mr. Falcon was ultimately vindicated, first by his aggressive handling of the problems at Freddie Mac that resulted in a major management shake-up and other institutional changes, and then last December, when the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed with his central conclusion that Fannie Mae had violated accounting rules.

In the months leading up to the S.E.C.'s decision, Mr. Falcon steadily steered Ofheo through a thicket of criticism, much of it orchestrated by Fannie Mae. The decision by the chief accountant of the commission prompted the resignations of Fannie Mae's two top executives, Franklin D. Raines and J. Timothy Howard, and in recent weeks the company has acquiesced to every demand of its regulator.

Mr. Falcon, a 44-year-old native of Texas, was a top aide to Representative Henry B. Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat, when Mr. Gonzalez headed the House Banking Committee. In a letter to President Bush, Mr. Falcon said that he was proud of his agency's achievements and that he would step down on May 20, "absent extraordinary circumstances."

"The agency has successfully dealt with serious problems at two of the largest financial institutions in the world," he wrote. "We did so in a manner that avoided disruption in our financial system, while allowing both companies to continue fulfilling their vital public mission."

Corrine Russell, a spokeswoman for Ofheo, said Mr. Falcon had "no firm plans" about his future career. He continued to serve as director of the agency even after his term expired last October. The White House has not named a successor, and if one is not confirmed by the Senate before he departs next month, the agency would come under the control of its deputy director, Stephen J. Blumenthal.

Mr. Falcon's announcement came on the eve of his appearance before a House subcommittee considering legislation to change the regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and impose new constraints on their businesses.

At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Representative Richard Baker, the Louisiana Republican who heads the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, announced that he had filed legislation to create a new agency with broader powers to oversee the companies, increase their capital levels, reject new business products and force them to liquidate parts of their huge portfolios of mortgage-backed securities.

The legislation is not expected to reach the floor of the House before the summer at the earliest.

The Senate has also begun to consider legislation. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow are set to testify this week before the Senate Banking Committee on plans to overhaul the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

They are coming!!! They are here!!!!!

Call your senators...Tell them NO...we won't accept this.


Love,
The Lass