Members of the committee, several of whom mispronounced Mr. Fuld’s name as “Fold” or “Food,” also hammered the Lehman chief executive for making what they described as rosy public statements about the bank’s health that did not reflect a scramble for cash behind the scenes.That's fine, but within those walls the feigned outrage comes off a tad hypocritical, such as this from Elijah Cummings:
“The people in my block in Baltimore, if they perform poorly, they get fired,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland. “They certainly don’t get a bonus.”Indeed. He was in attendance when Fannie interim CEO Daniel Mudd (son of Roger) addressed the Congressional Black Caucus by calling them "family":
Mudd then made Barry O's campaign number two on the all-time Fannie largesse list, right behind Dodd. Keep in mind Mudd was appointed after Franklin Raines was busted by a regulator for book-cooking even though he was steadfastly supported by the CBC at the time. All this should be a recap by now.
But surely Waxman has 'all this' on his docket during the next three weeks. While discussing fairness in salary, perhaps he can even haul in Carlos Zambrano to explain his role in dashing the hopes and dreams of Cubs fans all over the world, and whether he thinks his salary is still "fair" under the circumstances.
MORE 10/07/08
From Reuters:
After the hearing, top Republicans on the panel asked Waxman to hold a hearing on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's role in the financial crisis. Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican, also said he asked committee staff to explore the possibility of a special counsel investigation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Waxman will surely agree--it would be way too obvious otherwise--but such a hearing doesn't necessarily have to be scheduled before the election.
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