I’m just now reading the write-up of Freddie Mac exec David Kellerman’s suicide. I find this passage on the “poisonous political atmosphere” in which Kellerman was working (emphasis mine):
Mr. Kellermann was also working in a poisonous political atmosphere. In addition to taking criticism over the bonuses, he was recently involved in tense conversations with the company’s federal regulator over its routine financial disclosures, according to people close to those discussions who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Freddie Mac executives wanted to emphasize to investors that they believed the company was being run to benefit the government, rather than shareholders.
The company’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Authority, had pushed to play down that language. Freddie Mac reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that changes it had made in practices to help the government “have increased our expenses or caused us to forgo revenue opportunities.”
We’ll leave aside for the moment the fact that Kellerman worked for 16 years for the government entity that is in good part responsible for the this economic mess. But I honestly hope Kellerman didn’t take his life because he was unable to “benefit the government.”
