OPINION: Left Hand Sues Right Hand

The NY Times and most all other papers report that the federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation. Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing in DC.?

I’m not going to comment on the merit or lack of merit of the suits, that’s not the point. Nor am I going to harp on lawyers and politicians who feel the need to give the press a heads up on what they’re doing so they can control the story. No my question is why when this country is on its economic ass is an agency of our government introducing further uncertainty into the market by floating a story like this and then filing a suit putting the financial health of our biggest banks at risk. What happened to private negotiations? What’s the best/worst that’s going to happen out of all this is one financial agency will get a large billion dollar settlement and then another federal agency will have to prop up the financial institutions again. No one wins but the lawyers, accountants, and consultants. At some point this game of financial musical chairs has to stop, because the music will, all we will hear is the moaning of the unemployed whose ability to work has been destroyed. Can’t we stop pointing fingers?

I am reminded of my childhood and my grandmother saying, “ If you point a finger at someone then three fingers are pointing at you.” In the times of King David the pointing of a finger was a sign of contempt. In modern politics, “finger pointing” has become an art form. Someone else is always at fault and the cause of our problems or disaster. I listened recently to a pro athlete who attributed his success to finally realizing that he needed to just do his job and quit pointing fingers at his teammates. He had realized that he was part of a unit that needed and depended on each other. Pointing fingers not only showed a lack of respect for the recipient, but for the team as a whole and the accuser, as well. I think of Congress always blaming the other party or another member for the failure to address critical issues. Yet, their finger pointing brings dishonor to the institution more so than to their opponents. Now the supervising Federal Agency has decided that instead of fixing its own house it will point their fingers at someone else.

I am also disappointed that an Administration that began with such promise, cannot take the bull by the horns and say we are going to work at fixing our problems, not by blaming anyone, there is plenty of that to go along. The blame game ends as far as our administration goes, and we are going to work every day and night putting our country to work. It’s that simple, but that doesn’t feed the litigation machine that is eating the common man literally out of house and home.

PS: Congratulations Mayor Bloomberg. You are right to accept your aides resignation in the manner you did, and not kick a man when he’s down. Good for you.