AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive - Yahoo! News

AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive - Yahoo! News

Internal Freddie Mac budget records show $11.7 million was paid to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006. Power brokers such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were recruited with six-figure contracts. Freddie Mac paid the following amounts to the firms of former Republican lawmakers or ex-GOP staffers in 2006:

_Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York, at Park Strategies, $240,000.

_Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota, at Clark & Weinstock, $360,297.

_Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, at Washington Group, $300,062.

_Susan Hirschmann at Williams & Jensen, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, $240,790.

Freddie Mac's chairman and chief executive, Dick Syron, and McLoughlin, senior vice president for external relations, used Clark and Weinstock extensively, Weber said in an e-mail Friday.

"I personally met with the CEO several times and with Hollis and his team regularly," Weber said in the e-mail. "Clark and Weinstock worked effectively and intensely for Freddie Mac under Dick Syron and Hollis McLoughlin."

Get Rich Slowly

Get Rich Slowly

For some, charitable giving might seem like the easiest (and first) expense to eliminate. But giving is even more important this year, and I believe you should consider increasing your efforts now instead of cutting back. You don’t need to be wealthy to make a big difference in the life of someone who lives in poverty.

People on the “edges” are impacted more
People who are already struggling are impacted more by rising costs or the loss of income. You might feel like you’re barely making ends meet, but chances are that if you’re reading this, you are not sleeping in the back of a van with your kids (like a family I saw here in Seattle last week), or raising children in a part of the world where clean water and electricity are a distant dream and low-wage work represents your only opportunity to put food on the table.

This economic downturn is global. Around the world, the people who will be affected most are the people who are already struggling to provide the basics for their families, and the most effective way to support these families is through charities that help provide the means for them to lift themselves out of poverty. This is truly a time when every dollar counts.

I have written a lot on my own blog about why it’s important to address global poverty, but here is the short version: the world’s best minds cannot grow and lead the next generation if the hunger and ill-health that go hand in hand with poverty stop them in childhood.