Fannie Mae, Shake Shack, and Stealing You Blind

Today in the News

Fannie Mae

The Wall Street Journal’s Peter Wallison pointed out recently that Fannie Mae’s role in the financial crisis was more significant than initially reported.

Senior Counsel Hans Bader comments.

“Recently, Congress passed a confusing, 2,315 page law to regulate the financial industry called the Dodd-Frank Act. But it does absolutely nothing about Fannie Mae, which it left completely unreformed despite the fact that taxpayers will end up paying over $100 billion to bail out Fannie Mae. Instead, the Dodd-Frank delegates to largely-unaccountable agencies the power to write innumerable new regulations restricting financial transactions and related spheres of the economy.”

Shake Shack

Michelle Obama recently drew criticism for eating a high-calorie meal at D.C.’s new Shake Shack. Critics called the First Lady a “hypocrite” for not obeying her own nutrition advice.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton comments.

“She is not a hypocrite, at least not for this. Mrs. Obama has repeatedly stated that maintaining healthy diet doesn’t mean one must never indulge in cookies, fries, or burgers. That her lunch at a burger shack is newsworthy leads me to believe that she isn’t regularly ingesting massive quantities of fast food—so she’s not a hypocrite. She is, however, a dilettante and an elitist who, like so many other lifestyle moralists, doesn’t think or care about the effects that the policies they advocate will have on people who are not part of the middle or upper classes.”

 

Stealing You Blind

CEI Vice President Iain Murray has penned a new book: Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off Of You.

Visit Amazon.com to learn more about the book.