Suicide at Freddie Mac

robeiae · Apr 22, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/23freddie.html?em

Acting CFO of Freddie Mac found dead, apparent suicide. Forty one years old. Very sad. My condolences to his family.

But coupled with the resignation of the CEO, Daniel Moffett, it's hard not to wonder what exactly is going on inside this company.

dclary · Apr 22, 2009

This screamed to me: What we're going to find out about the state of the mortgage industry in America is far, far worse than what we've found out already.

Don · Apr 22, 2009

dclary may be on to something. For purposes of plot development, I'll put on my tinfoil hat and make note of the word "apparent" in the story.

Hmm... FedGov ala Foster, right-winger who just lost everything in the crash, or leftist cyber-criminal covering his tracks?

dclary · Apr 22, 2009

I didn't mean it like that, Don. I meant it to be that if he knows his head's on the chopping block because there's some sort of quadrillion dollar loss report coming, he's going to do this. He wouldn't do this over news we already know, because the damage is already done.

whistlelock · Apr 22, 2009

I feel for his family, and their loss.

And, it will be interesting to see if some giant shoe drops in a few weeks.

dclary · Apr 22, 2009

astonwest · Apr 22, 2009

Maybe Obama is learning all he can from the Clintons...

Wayne K · Apr 22, 2009

What I read is that his stock was worth a fortune and now it's woth nothing. There's also the chance he was just suicidal. I know it's not as tantalizing as some of the other posts, but sometimes the boring explaination is the truth.

StephanieFox · Apr 22, 2009

It's like 1929 when the very rich lose everything in their financial lives and can't cope. It's so sad. He may have lost money and lifestyle, but he had a young daughter. I hope no others do this foolish thing.

whistlelock · Apr 22, 2009

dclary said:

Bigger, and probably made out of poop.

Contemplative · Apr 22, 2009

You know, I can't help but wonder if the witchhunt, publicity and emotional abuse had more to do with it than any genuinely financial matters. I remember being sickened by the simple viciousness people were showing in the AIG thread upon hearing about threats to executives' families -- and AW is very moderate compared to some social circles. I wonder if those same posters will show up to suggest this man's suicide might be a sympathy ploy, just like the death threats against AIG families.

We have an American senator wanting to compile name lists in an American newspaper. We have people screaming the modern equivalent of "kill the kulaks". Now we have an actual death, arguably caused by stigma and emotional trauma. When are people on the left going to realize that we can't cross these lines?

I mean, I'm no libertarian or conservative. I believe in the moral validity of progressive taxation, welfare, social security and many forms of wealth redistribution -- but this is a sign that things have gone beyond the pale, and we need to stop for some self-examination about attitudes and methods, and firmly denounce people like Barney Frank.

This isn't about socialism, or even about accountability. This is simple human cruelty and scapegoating using socialism and egalitarianism as very thin excuses.

maestrowork · Apr 23, 2009

Managers tend to be pessimists, high-strung people and if his networth did fall to nothing, it's enough to make someone do something drastic, especially if their personality is suicide-prone. 41 years old. What a waste. My condolences to his family.

Then there's that guy who killed his family and himself after losing like $400,000 or something... now that's just senseless.

James81 · Apr 23, 2009

dclary said:
This screamed to me: What we're going to find out about the state of ~~the mortgage industry in America~~Freddie Mac is far, far worse than what we've found out already.

Fixed it for ya.

robeiae · Apr 23, 2009

Well, at the risk of having James agree with me again, I'll tell you what I think (and it's all supposition):

I'm sure everyone has heard the term "toxic asset" by now. For those that are unsure what it means, it refers to an asset--something a company owns--that has lost so much value, there is no one willing to buy it. Effectively, it is worthless. But it's still on the books as an asset.

Moffett (the new CEO of Freddie that up and quit) and Kellermann were going non-stop, trying to rebuild Freddie's financial structure. What I think they discovered--and I have ZERO evidence for this--is that some of these so-called toxic assets weren't such after all. Why? Because they don't really exist as assets. I think that some of the more exotic financial packages based on mortgages, created by Wall Street in the past fifteen or so years--are fantasies. I think PHD'd analysts cooked them up, then got approval from the Feds, thanks to help from Fannie and Freddie execs, who were the epitome of greedy bastards: doing absolutely no work but getting filthy rich (I'm talking here about Franklin Raines, Jaime Gorelick, and the like). The leadership at Freddie and Fannie was beyond clueless, since it was hardly made up of serious thinkers. But it was given an opportunity to make money and achieve Federal housing goals. So it jumped on this crap.

Now, with all the analysis out there and with some actual scrutiny of these things, I think maybe someone has realized that these assets are nothing but documentation, that to own them--toxic or not--is to own nothing. But the Fed are saying they'll buy the toxic assets of financials. Where will those new purchases end up? You guessed it.

I can't say why Kellermann took his own life. That's a tragedy. But he's been at Freddie forever--mostly as an analyst. And if even part of what I am saying is right...

Bird of Prey · Apr 23, 2009

Contemplative said:
You know, I can't help but wonder if the witchhunt, publicity and emotional abuse had more to do with it than any genuinely financial matters. I remember being sickened by the simple viciousness people were showing in the AIG thread upon hearing about threats to executives' families -- and AW is very moderate compared to some social circles. I wonder if those same posters will show up to suggest this man's suicide might be a sympathy ploy, just like the death threats against AIG families.

We have an American senator wanting to compile name lists in an American newspaper. We have people screaming the modern equivalent of "kill the kulaks". Now we have an actual death, arguably caused by stigma and emotional trauma. When are people on the left going to realize that we can't cross these lines?

I mean, I'm no libertarian or conservative. I believe in the moral validity of progressive taxation, welfare, social security and many forms of wealth redistribution -- but this is a sign that things have gone beyond the pale, and we need to stop for some self-examination about attitudes and methods, and firmly denounce people like Barney Frank.

This isn't about socialism, or even about accountability. This is simple human cruelty and scapegoating using socialism and egalitarianism as very thin excuses.

You know, I was actually relieved that Americans finally showed some exasperation and outrage at being utterly ripped off. I was starting to wonder if the population was willing to jump off a cliff without so much as a yippee for the sake of the Godforsaken rich.

I don't know what kind of community you work and play in, but I had had it up to my eyeballs with some of these wealthy shits long before the mess hit. They were callous, competitive utterly superficial snobs with the phrase "entitled to everything on the backs of the poor" inscribed on every crease of their big fat environmental footprint.

Contemplative · Apr 23, 2009

Bird of Prey said:
You know, I was actually relieved that Americans finally showed some exasperation and outrage at being utterly ripped off. I was starting to wonder if the population was willing to jump off a cliff without so much as a yippee for the sake of the Godforsaken rich.

But they're not angry at "the rich", and far more tragically they're not really trying to fix inequality or implement any kind of practical wealth redistribution or social equity. (Well, Obama may be -- he's a lot more thoughtful and just than Barney Frank or the general public.) They're angry -- murderously, amorally so -- at the employees of a few specific highly publicized companies, who often aren't all that different from the other 99% of the financial industry.

We have here an opportunity to get some laws through that could reshape and regulate the system. Instead we're laughing at death threats, compiling name lists for newspapers, raising up irrational outrage and generally making socialists look like psychopaths. An opportunity for real progressive social change is being squandered in favor of amoral revenge.

Bird of Prey said:
I don't know what kind of community you work and play in, but I had had it up to my eyeballs with some of these wealthy shits long before the mess hit. They were callous, competitive utterly superficial snobs with the phrase "entitled to everything on the backs of the poor" inscribed on every crease of their big fat environmental footprint.

Some of them are surely all this and more. Others likely do not deserve your harsh words. I do not think the general public is being very discerning in judging people in this matter. Really, the only thing all the rich people have in common is that they have more money than they justly should.

Even if they are everything you have claimed and more -- and I do agree that the financial industry's competitive mindset produces some antisocial psychology fairly frequently -- they are still people, and there are certain ways in which people simply should not be treated. Name lists in newspapers is, in my opinion, one of those -- especially whenever the named, no matter how loathsome they might be, haven't actually committed any crime.

Your words make you sound like a person with a very black and white outlook, dividing the world into neat categories of oppressors and oppressed.

robeiae · Apr 23, 2009

Contemplative said:
Your words make you sound like a person with a very black and white outlook, dividing the world into neat categories of oppressors and oppressed.

Such a world is far easier to understand, even if wholly imaginary...

Bird of Prey · Apr 23, 2009

Contemplative said:
But they're not angry at "the rich", and far more tragically they're not really trying to fix inequality or implement any kind of practical wealth redistribution or social equity. (Well, Obama may be -- he's a lot more thoughtful and just than Barney Frank or the general public.) They're angry -- murderously, amorally so -- at the employees of a few specific highly publicized companies, who often aren't all that different from the other 99% of the financial industry.

We have here an opportunity to get some laws through that could reshape and regulate the system. Instead we're laughing at death threats, compiling name lists for newspapers, raising up irrational outrage and generally making socialists look like psychopaths. An opportunity for real progressive social change is being squandered in favor of amoral revenge.

Some of them are surely all this and more. Others likely do not deserve your harsh words. I do not think the general public is being very discerning in judging people in this matter. Really, the only thing all the rich people have in common is that they have more money than they justly should.

Even if they are everything you have claimed and more -- and I do agree that the financial industry's competitive mindset produces some antisocial psychology fairly frequently -- they are still people, and there are certain ways in which people simply should not be treated. Name lists in newspapers is, in my opinion, one of those -- especially whenever the named, no matter how loathsome they might be, haven't actually committed any crime.

Your words make you sound like a person with a very black and white outlook, dividing the world into neat categories of oppressors and oppressed.

I think, Contemplative, that when you come full circle, you'll find that black and white are the starting point at the true divide.

Suicide at Freddie Mac

robeiae

Touch and go

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Don

All Living is Local

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

whistlelock

Whiskey Rebel

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

astonwest

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

Wayne K

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog

whistlelock

Whiskey Rebel

Contemplative

AW Addict

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

James81

Great Scott Member

robeiae

Touch and go

Bird of Prey

Benefactor Member

Contemplative

AW Addict

robeiae

Touch and go

Bird of Prey

Benefactor Member