The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Rewarding the Biggest Crooks

Jan 10, 2005

Chief Executive Franklin Raines and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard resigned from the giant mortgage agency Fannie Mae. (Fannie Mae was created by Congress to buy mortgages from banks in order to protect their investment, as well as funnel still more money into the mortgage industry.) Raines and Howard were accused of fraud, cooking the books to make Fannie Mae’s required capital look nine BILLION dollars higher than it really was.

So these two lost their jobs. But they are not leaving without getting a little something Raines will receive 19 million dollars in cash and stock, plus a lifetime pension of more than $100,000 per MONTH, with Howard getting just a little less.

Raines is hardly the first chief exec to gain millions and millions in yearly pay. But usually the capitalists and their supporters claim the bosses earn this money because the company has done so well.

We’ll have to remember such deals when the bosses tell us they can’t give us a raise because the company is not doing well!