Free Republic

Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs): An Institutional Overview is one of thousands of documents recently made available on WikiLeaks. A veritable myriad of Congressional Research Service documents offer startling glimpses into the scale and scope of government intrusion in the free markets. Why Did Congress Create GSEs? GSEs were not created for the purpose of expanding home ownership by lower- and middle-income members of the public. Rather, Congress established GSEs "to improve the efficiency of capital markets" and to overcome "statutory and other market imperfections which otherwise prevent funds from moving easily from suppliers of funds to areas of high loan...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) The government has filed civil charges against former Fannie Mae chief executive Franklin Raines, former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer.</p>

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 - Fannie Mae, the housing-finance giant, for years has fended off critics who contend that the company is too big, too powerful and too risky. But the Securities and Exchange Commission's Wednesday ruling, that Fannie Mae had seriously breached accounting rules, could touch off a chain reaction that results in stricter government controls, legislation limiting its growth and possibly even a change in top management. Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike demanded on Thursday that senior executives, including the chief executive, Franklin D. Raines, return tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and other compensation that they had...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Justice Department has opened an investigation of possible accounting fraud at Fannie Mae, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, after a federal regulator said the mortgage giant may have manipulated its earnings targets. The Journal reported that the investigation is still in the preliminary stages. Fannie has been under fire since the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or Ofheo, accused the company of improper accounting that allowed senior executives to pocket multimillion-dollar bonuses. According to the newspaper, officials have said that some Fannie Mae executives may have misled regulators, which in some cases...