Posted on 07/10/2008 7:07:50 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Reuters) - Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM - News) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News) are "insolvent" and may need a U.S. government bailout, former St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole was quoted as saying in an interview with Bloomberg.
"Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent, that it is allowing these firms to continue to exist as bastions of privilege, financed by the taxpayer," Poole was quoted as saying in an interview held on Wednesday.
Chances are increasing that the government may need to bail out the two mortgage companies, Poole was quoted as saying.
Shares of the two companies have taken a beating recently on worries about whether they can withstand more losses and support housing as well as concerns that they may need to raise massive amounts of new capital.
Freddie Mac shares tumbled 23.8 percent to $10.26 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, while Fannie Mae shares sank 13.1 percent to $15.31.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
No one is going to touch the countrys favorite couple, Freddie and Fannie or crimp their style. Just aint gonna happen. It probably shouldn't happen. These are the only government programs that turn people into Republicans. People who own their own homes are far more likely to vote GOP. Compared to the dough taxpayers shell out to create more Democrats, this is chump change. |
Agreed, ultimately a lower dollar. It could lead to stagflation. Lower dollar and recession at the same time. Last time Volker’s medicine didn’t taste so good, now it will be more like Chemotherapy.
ping
Um, lets try again. A very large quasi private entity has been spectacularly mismanaged by political apointees with little or no background that would allow them to successfully manage said entity.
Now, it is in very bad shape, and politicians are suggesting that the taxpayers take over the firms. This would add 5 Trillion dollars to our debt, according to another article linked on drudge this AM. If only 10% of their debt is bad, we, the taxpayers would get stuck with a $150 billion check to cover.
The cost of the Iraq war. But of course it could be 15% or 20%, we just don’t know.
I would say that among all the idiotic things that politicians have done this is probably the most expensive, and so one of the worst.
It’s not class envy that makes me mad, its favoritism, nepotism and they resulting massive costs to taxpayers.
Stupid big government programs are bad, even if they might help the GOP. I'm a conservative first and GOP partisan second.
Section 8 housing is about $10 billion a year. If we the taxpayers only get stuck with a 10% write down that's $150 billion. NOT HARDLY CHUMP CHANGE. 15 TIMES bigger than a flagship social welfare program (that I hate).
Big Government Conservatisms at it's most wasteful.
spectacularly mismanaged by political apointees with little or no background that would allow them to successfully manage said entity You would have more credibility if the stuff you said was true. I just looked up the backgrounds of all of the key officers of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For you to say that any of these people have "little or no background that would allow them to successfully manage said entity" marks you as someone who either has no clue who these people are, or does know who they are and is lying to us on purpose. Every one of these people is an accomplished, experienced executive. Rant away, but please don't lie to us. |
Yes, after the house cleaning. Jamie Gorelick on there? Is she your idea of an "accomplished experienced executive". Her last "executive" job got us a firewall that helped prevent CIA and FBI from communicating with each other in the Clinton Justice department. A contributing factor in 9/11. Then, showing that her real executive expertise was damage control she was a donk appointment to the 9/11 commission itself, an tribunal she should have been a witness for. Stunning abuse of power. Awesome track record as Clintonista sock puppet. Experience as a finance exec. ZERO.
I’m just curious, who came up with these names anyway? Sounds like a stereotypical black couple from the South.
Apparently, the two names are acronyms - for Federal Realty Mortgage Exchange ... all words like that.
In the Australian media, they have to constantly explain the two names of these important institutions, and also say that they ARE institutions, and not two individuals. To foreigners, the names seem quite funny. But once the implications of a Federal bailout, and a collapse of the dollar, are explained, then suddenly everyone stops laughing.
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