why is this idiot still in office?

Where were you Mr. Frank...
When in 2005, the Federal Regulator went to the House of Representatives to warn you about the demise of Freddie and Fannie. When in 2005, the Regulators told you how Freddie and Fannie were 'cooking the books'.
When in 2006, the Executives of Fannie and Frddie were leaving in droves with thier big fat Golden Parachutes.
Oh Yes, I remember...
I remember you and your fellow Democrates were screaming at, and belittling the Regulator that gave you the warnings. (Its all on YouTube).
I remember, you were protecting your friends (and your boyfriend!!!) who were executives at Freddie and Fannie. For the record, you took thousands and thousands of dollars from those execs, (it's all there in your financial statements).
You are but a dispicable termite, a lowly snake, and a slimy sluge who should resign or be impeached. And now you want to wield the sword and condem the evil bankers.

Our government will lend our money to those who are not qualified to get the loans thru conventional means. We the taxpayers are getting stuck with making loans to those who do not deserve them. There is a reason why a lending institution expects 20% down and a loan to income ratio around 30%. They want to get paid back, unlike our government that sticks us with the bill.

Keep Freddie and Fannie, get rid of Barney.

Another dog and pony show. Barney and the rest of the congressional thieves are still in Wall Street's pocket. The finance industry is still writing bogus mortgages because the government is taking all the risk. Mortgage originators pocket the big money from doing the paper work processing, then get a securitization fee for bundling this garbage and they then unload it to the Fed or Fannie and Freddie. Of course the taxpayer is responsible when these loans blow up. Except for possibly loans to veterans, the government should get completely out of the mortgage business. The people should vote out every incumbent and keep doing that until things change.

This guy is an absolute fraud.
He was holding out that Fannie & Freddie were on firm ground right up until the end. Either he is an idiot or an unbelievable liar or both.
We all know what else he is.
Now I just saw him on Al Jazera news representing the US as the Financial representative for the US on the Dohia Debates.
Is Obama nuts also or is he just clueless about Barney Fink.
We have a serious mess in Washington asn this guy has to be one of the real messes. Time for Boston to throw him out of office.!

In the House of Representatives, the majority party has almost unlimited power over the minority party. The majority party owns the committee chairmanships; it controls what bills come to a vote; and it is under no obligation to consider the ideas of the beleaguered minority. When the Republicans were in the majority they ruled with an iron first; it is no accident that Tom DeLay was known as "The Hammer."

That is why I find it particularly flattering the Republicans now claim that in the years 1995 to 2006 I personally possessed supernatural powers which enabled me to force mighty Republican leaders to do my bidding. Choose your comic book hero -- I was all of them.
According to the Republicans' misty memories of the period before 2007, I allegedly singlehandedly blocked their determined efforts to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and my supposed intransigence literally caused the worldwide financial crisis.

Fortunately, we have tools to aid memory -- pencil and paper, word processing, transcripts, newspapers, and the Congressional record. And as described in the most reputable published sources, in 2005 I in fact worked together with my Republican colleague Michael Oxley, then Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, to write a bill to increase regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We passed the bill out of committee with an overwhelming majority -- every Democrat voted in favor of the legislation. However, on the House floor the Republican leadership added a poison pill amendment, which would have prevented non-profit institutions with religious affiliations from receiving funds. I voted against the legislation in protest, though I continued to work with Mr. Oxley to encourage the Senate to pass a good bill. But these efforts were defeated because President Bush blocked further consideration of the legislation. In the words of Mr. Oxley, no flaming liberal, the Bush administration gave his efforts 'the one-finger salute-----------Barney Frank

" in 2005 I in fact worked together with my Republican colleague Michael Oxley, then Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, to write a bill to increase regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"

That bill was a hoax. It did little to limit Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That's why it was vetoed. Republicans have always opposed Fannie and Freddie, and they were unhappy with this bill because it made only token concessions. Of course, Republicans supported the wild and crazy residential real estate bubble to the extent it enriched homebuilders, RE brokers, investment bankers, etc. All these politicians are happy to loot and plunder the common weal for their own best friends.

Frank is a boob!

I agree with the majority of comments above. Frank is a complete idiot. Along with the "I have to have someone else complete my sentences" Maxine Waters. They had to get into bed with ACORN, to mandate all citizens should be able to own a house. It's a great concept, but the Bush administration warned about Fannie and Freddie being overhauled in 2004 and 2006, because concerns of their practices.

So, this is on Barney and his friends. Also, I believe at this time the total incompetent Eric Holder, drove Fannie Mae in the ground, but continued to take his millions for a job undone. Now, he still continues to show his incompetence as Attorney General.

I have been in the Mortgage Business for 25 years and watch these watch dogs watch us.

Total idiots, that's all I can say.

Resign? Let the punishment fit the crime.

The two companies were owned by private shareholders until 2008; today they are 80 percent government- owned. The trillion-dollar organizations are now in a kind of limbo, and Wall Street is betting that the shareholders will be almost, but not quite, totally cleaned out: Fannie and Freddie stock has traded for about a dollar a share since 2008.

Fannie and Freddie stock has traded for about a dollar a share since 2008.

this man was dating the head of fannie or freddie as it was creating the whole meltdown. he defended fannie and freddie and said they were solid financially. why should we believe one thing this liar says. Does he have any new boyfriends over there any more?