Distract and Deceive

Sen. Collins is still harping on the role of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the current crisis. But it's a dodge.



Don't get me wrong: Those companies were guilty of serious excesses over the last several years. You won't see me defending them.

But they're not what the current crisis is about. And they've got nothing to do with the the Bush administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan.

Rather, the plan is targeted to Wall Street institutions that packaged home mortgages into exotic (unregulated) securities; sold them to each other; and then made disastrous, leveraged bets based on their holdings.

If only the mortgages themselves were a problem, we wouldn't be facing a global financial crisis. We certainly wouldn't be talking about a $700 billion bailout.

It's not exactly a lie for Sen. Collins to continually place Freddie and Fannie at the center of the crisis. But it is an attempt to deceive. And to distract attention from the main culprits here--the huge multinational corporations that have pretty much run Washington over the last eight years of Republican domination.

Those companies are now, of course, receiving a barrage of criticism.


But not from Susan Collins.