What do we do with a quasi-government agency that bought boatloads of mortgage-backed securities s***?
"Treasury may seek a post-Fannie Mae safety net" April 19, 2012|By Cheyenne Hopkins, Clea Benson and Ian Katz
WASHINGTON - Treasury officials are leaning toward recommending that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be replaced with a government safety net for the mortgage finance system and continued federal backing for loans to lower-income homebuyers, said three people briefed on the discussions....
Why not just bail 'em out, 'er, pay off the mortgages for them? I mean, you get sick of writing about the grand looting scheme, the fraudulent foreclosures that can't be recalled, the fraudulent debt that is demanded, and the great government's attempt to fix everything and make it all right when they work for the f***ing banks. If they didn't, we wouldn't be in this situation.
In timing its proposal, Treasury must balance political and economic realities. Presidential campaign politics and deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans make it unlikely that mortgage-finance overhaul will be enacted this year....
Then why is there an article about it?
Karen Dynan, a former economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors [and] now a vice president at the Brookings Institution, said, “The uncertainty surrounding the future of the mortgage finance system has impeded the rebound of the housing market and the private housing-finance market. It’s just really hard for the players to make decisions when you don’t know what the rules are going to be in the future.’’
As if the "players" cared about rules!
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The two companies, which veered toward bankruptcy when the housing market collapsed in 2008, were seized by regulators and have drawn nearly $190 billion in taxpayer aid.
Try trillions.
The debate over the companies’ future has been complicated by their growing prominence in the housing market. As private investors have pulled back in the recession, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have come to own or guarantee 60 percent of outstanding US residential mortgages. That has prompted the real estate industry to lobby Congress to move slowly on reducing the government’s role.
Related:
“They’ve cleared the decks to use Fannie and Freddie as a vessel for whatever they want.... taking troubled mortgage investments off banks’ books.... Obama’s budget blueprint also excludes the $6.3 trillion in liabilities of government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and delays for a second time a decision on restructuring the mortgage finance companies"
And now another delay.
While some Republicans who initially called for immediate abolition of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now say they would accept a gradual wind-down, split party control of Congress stands in the way of resolving the matter in 2012....
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Also see: Fannie, Freddie spend $100 million on former executives’ legal bills
SEC Sounds Syron at Fannie and Freddie
Yes, you had to pay the criminal's legal fees, taxpayers.
"Pay for Fannie, Freddie executives to be cut" March 10, 2012|By Derek Kravitz
WASHINGTON - The pay and bonus structure of the government-controlled mortgage giants came under fire last fall after it was revealed that 12 executives got $35.4 million in salary and bonuses in 2009 and 2010.
This as you were pouring billions upon billions to cover their losses so banks could get paid, taxpayers.
Fannie’s chief executive, Michael J. Williams, received about $9.3 million for the two years. Freddie’s chief executive, Edward Haldeman Jr., was paid $7.8 million.
Related: Lying Looters Large and Small: The Fannie-Freddie Family
They were gobbling up millions as the market collapsed.
Republican lawmakers welcomed the cap, noting that pay at mortgage companies should be more in line with government salaries. But administration officials said such limits will make it harder to attract talent because chief executives could earn far more in comparable jobs on Wall Street....
The values of this economy are totally f***ed up.
The government rescued Fannie and Freddie three years ago after they nearly folded because of big losses on risky mortgages. Taxpayers have spent about $170 billion to prop up the companies, the most expensive bailout of the 2008 financial crisis....
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And they are STILL not cutting YOU a BREAK:
"Fannie, Freddie still barred from cutting principal; White House disappointed with decision" by Marcy Gordon | Associated Press, August 01, 2012
WASHINGTON — A federal regulator is standing by its decision to bar Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reducing principal for borrowers at risk of foreclosure, resisting pressure from the Obama administration.
Banks must be paid, first priority.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the decision Tuesday after months of considering the option.
The agency’s acting director, Edward DeMarco, has long opposed allowing Fannie and Freddie to offer principal reduction.
DeMarco said an extensive analysis by the FHFA found the potential benefit was too small compared with the costs and risks....
‘‘I do not believe it is the best decision for the country,’’ Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to DeMarco.
Geithner said allowing Fannie and Freddie to do ‘‘targeted’’ reductions of principal for troubled borrowers would provide much needed help to a significant number of troubled homeowners. He said that would help repair the nation’s housing market and result in a net benefit to taxpayers.
The government rescued Fannie and Freddie in September 2008 to cover losses on soured mortgage loans. Since then the FHFA, which is independent of the administration, has controlled their financial decisions.
US taxpayers have spent roughly $170 billion to rescue the companies.
Don't you love the low-balling even as they have poured billions more into these failures?
It could cost roughly $260 billion more to support them through 2014 after subtracting dividend payments, according to the government.
This at a TIME of AUSTERITY -- even as MORE WARS are PLANNED!
The Treasury Department said in January that it would cover part of the cost if Fannie and Freddie could reduce principal when they modify mortgages for troubled borrowers. The department said it would use unspent housing rescue money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP....
Yeah, I remember being told that was going to be a revolving bailout fund.
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Now back to BUSINESS as USUAL!
"FDIC may exempt banks from rules for mortgage securities" March 30, 2011|By Marcy Gordon, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are proposing to exempt certain mortgages from new rules aimed at getting banks to take on more risk when they package and sell mortgage investments....
In other words, the MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES FRAUD that DESTROYED the WORLD ECONOMY will be ALLOWED to START UP AGAIN!
Banks packaged and sold bundles of risky mortgages with teaser rates that increased after only a few years. Many borrowers ended up defaulting on the loans when the interest rates spiked. As a result, the value of the mortgage securities plummeted. Experts say banks had very little of their own money invested in those mortgage securities, and that led them to take greater risks that contributed to the financial crisis.
To understand what really happened find the film "Inside Job" by Charles Ferguson and watch it.
The proposal has been awaited by Wall Street, which is looking to revive the market for mortgage securities....
Back to the SAME BEHAVIOR that MADE THEM ALL RICH and RUINED the ECONOMY!
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Also see: BANKERS GONE WILD
WALL STREET'S MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITY FRAUD DESTROYED BOTH THE US AND EU ECONOMIES!
Why aren't any of them in jail?
Related: Inside Job
That's required viewing, readers.
And where am I going from here? I don't know.
Update: Former Fannie chief must face suit by SEC
They gonna drop it like they did Goldmans?
