So-Called 'Ethics Committee' Dismisses Charges Against Corrupt Dems Dodd and Conrad

Hey, they're Democrats running the committe. You expected anything different?

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics is dismissing complaints against two Democrats, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, over allegations that they received improper discounts on home mortgages from Countrywide Financial, the home lending giant.

The ethics committee is also planning to propose legislation that would require mortgage information to be included on the financial disclosure forms that senators are required to file annually.

Of course this doesn't mean Dodd didn't get himself a nice discount.

Heck, we'd all love the kind of courtesy that would have saved Mr. Dodd $75,000 over the life of the two loans he refinanced to the tune of $800,000, according to an analysis by Portfolio magazine. The savings came from rock-bottom interest rates and a free "float-down" -- the right to borrow at a lower rate if interest rates fall before you've closed on the loan.

Then, of course, there's that Irish cottage...

But hey, who are we to complain? They're Democrats. They can do as they please.

'The Curve is Being Raised'

It's starting to look a lot like the Congressional Budget Office isn't down with nationalizing health care.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office issued a warning to Democrats Thursday that their health care proposals would raise costs, not lower them.

One day after a Senate panel approved its version of the health care reform plan, the first committee to do so, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf gave a dose of bad medicine to a separate committee.

Asked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whether costs would be lowered -- also known as "bending the curve" -- Elmendorf responded: "The curve is being raised."

Subsidies to help uninsured people would raise federal health care spending, which is already growing at an unsustainable rate, Elmendorf explained at the hearing. The Medicare and Medicaid cuts that lawmakers have offered to pay for the coverage expansion aren't big enough to offset the cost trend, particularly in the long term, he said.

House Republican Leader John Boehner seized on the comments, calling on Democrats to scrap their plans in light of the assessment.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called it a "wake up call" for Democrats.

Anybody with a lick of sense knows that this will escalate costs, not lower them. Medicare cost some 900% more than originally projected cause they did not take into account the increased consumption of services when the services themselves were perceived to be "free." A basic principle of microeconomics is that people consume resources at their marginal value; in other words, what does it cost me to to consume the next unit? If the cost is perceived to be zero, folks will value it as such and consume it in the same light.

The Democrats need to put down Das Capital and try reading Adam Smith for a change.

'Twenty Bucks a Week. How Much of a Lift is That Going to Give?'

Typical liberal. He'd gladly take the twenty bucks from you rather than let you keep more of your own money. What would twenty buck buy? Dinner for a week if you shop wisely.

Democrats had little positive to say about Obama's tax cuts.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) was critical of a tax break for workers and their families.

"Twenty bucks a week. How much of a lift is that going to give?" he said. Nor did he sound positive about a tax break for businesses to create jobs. "If I'm a business person, it's unlikely if you give me a several thousand dollar credit that I'm going to hire people if I can't sell the products they're producing," he said.

Save this quote if you ever need a definition of supreme arrogance.

Democrat Senators Received Fixed Countrywide Mortgage Deals

More Friends of Angelo. After former Barack Obama vetter was tossed under the bus Wednesday, some reporters figured it was time to look at who else received special deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

And what do you know, two top Democrat senators received cushy deals.

How convenient.

One of them is the Sandwich King, Connecticut's Christopher Dodd, former presidential candidate and now undoubtedly former Vice Presidential material.

Two influential US senators got "VIP" loans from a leading subprime mortgage lender that saved them tens of thousands of dollars, it was reported last night.

The Democratic pols, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both received the highly favorable loans under the designation "Friend of Angelo," a reference to embattled Countrywide head Angelo Mozilo, Condé Nast Portfolio reported.

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, while Conrad is chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. The two senators refinanced properties through the VIP program in 2003 and 2004, the report said.

Others who received "FOA" loans include Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush who resigned in April, and Donna Shalala, who was secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.

The report came one day after Democratic heavyweight Jim Johnson stepped down as chief of Barack Obama's vice-presidential search committee after revelations he'd gotten Countrywide loans at very favorable rates because of Mozilo.

Citing company documents and e-mails, the report says the FOAs paid lower fees, and if rates fell while a loan was pending, the VIPs would get a free "float-down" while regular customers had to pay a surcharge.

Dodd reportedly received two loans through the program in 2003 - $506,000 to refinance his Washington town house, and $275,042 to refinance a home in Connecticut. The more favorable terms saved him about $70,000, the report says.

Naturally, Dodd defends the sweetheart deals. After all, he's a Democrat and they have special privileges the rest of us don't enjoy.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, a top figure in Democrats' response to the housing crisis, defended through a spokesman two mortgages he reportedly received under a special Countrywide Financial Corp. program that awarded preferential interest rates to people referred to as "friends" of the company's chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.

"The Dodds received a competitive rate on their loans," said Bryan DeAngelis, Sen. Dodd's press secretary. "They did not seek or anticipate any special treatment, and they were not aware of any." He declined further comment.

The news could cause headaches for the Connecticut senator, who is trying to negotiate housing legislation designed to deal with the foreclosure crisis. The final bill could include expanding a government program to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced home loans.

Publicly, Mr. Dodd has been critical of some of the mortgages in which Countrywide specialized, such as loans known as "payment-option ARMs," adjustable-rate mortgages that give borrowers multiple payment options each month. In December 2007, he co-signed a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that called these mortgages at Countrywide "abusive" because "these loans were not made on the basis of a borrower's ability to pay."

Can you say hypocrisy, kids?

More here.

Safe to say you can probably scratch Dodd off Obama's VP list.