Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Bailout

Edward DeMarco: The Ideologue Who's Holding Homeowners -- and the Economy -- Hostage

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 04.15.2012

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Why is Edward DeMarco still in this important post? We need leaders to solve our housing problem. Instead, this responsibility has been left in the hands of an ideologue whose deregulatory dream world is made up of nothing but rainbows.

Jon Ward

Mitt Romney: I Don't Know If My Own Ad Is True Or Not

HuffingtonPost.com | Jon Ward | Posted 01.26.2012

Mitt Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he had not seen an ad -- it is a radio ad -- charging that Newt Gingrich called Spanish "the language of ghetto" d...

Freddie and Fannie -- Has Everyone Gone Postal?

Adam Levin | Posted 11.07.2011

Adam Levin

Between Freddie and Fannie's latest woes and the United States Postal Service teetering on collapse, it's been a bad week or so for quasi-governmental agencies.

Howard Fineman

Letters For Sale: A Plan To Fix The Foreclosure Crisis

HuffingtonPost.com | Howard Fineman | Posted 08.14.2011

Destiny Mathis, a 26-year-old single mother of three, is thinking of selling a handwritten letter she got from President Obama to get the cash she needs to avoid being evicted from her apartment. Sounds like Obama should start churning out more letters.

Fannie, Freddie Reform Will 'Turn Us Into A Nation Of Renters,' Group Says

The Huffington Post | Lila Shapiro | Posted 05.25.2011

Republicans and Democrats both agree that the government's mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can't continue in their current form, but variou...

Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills To The Taxpayers

New York Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and th...

The Real Reason Fannie and Freddie Lost So Much Money

David Fiderer | Posted 05.25.2011

David Fiderer

How did Fannie and Freddie lose so much money? There are many reasons, but the two most important are not products for low-income borrowers. They are products that invite fraud.

Wall Street's Fatal Defect

Mark Sunshine | Posted 05.25.2011

Mark Sunshine

According to the Congressional Oversight Panel, many private label mortgage backed bonds have a fatal defect that Wall Street is downplaying: many mortgage backed bonds may not be backed by mortgages.

FHA: Banks Should Share Fannie, Freddie Bailout Costs

AP | ALAN ZIBEL | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON — The nation's largest banks have an obligation to pay some of the cost for bailing out mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be...

Fannie Mae Must Stop Bankrolling Lawsuits Against Underwater Homeowners with Our Money

Rep. John Conyers | Posted 05.25.2011

Rep. John Conyers

What do the American people get for investing $86 billion and owning an 80 percent share in Fannie Mae? Have many millions of homeowners who are delinquent on their Fannie mortgages been helped?

Mortgage Failure: Who Should REALLY Pay?

nytimes.com | FLOYD NORRIS | Posted 05.25.2011

If nobody does their job right, and disaster ensues, who should pay for the sins of all? That is the predicament now confronting the mortgage industr...

Shahien Nasiripour

Fannie Mae: Home Prices To Decline Into Next Year

HuffingtonPost.com | Shahien Nasiripour | Posted 05.25.2011

Home prices will decline into next year, Fannie Mae said Thursday, reversing earlier projections that the housing market would stabilize this year. ...

Countrywide VIP Gave Fannie Mae "Sweetheart Deals"

AP | LARRY MARGASAK | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON — The former Countrywide Financial Corp. gave preferential loans to more than three dozen employees of Fannie Mae while the two giant...

Whither Fannie and Freddie?

Laurence J. Kotlikoff | Posted 05.25.2011

Laurence J. Kotlikoff

Frannie and Freddie are here to connect lenders and borrowers. They aren't here to borrow money, promise to repay, and then make mortgages that are hi...

Don't Blame the Dream of Home Ownership

Robert Kuttner | Posted 05.25.2011

Robert Kuttner

Here is a fable that is making the rounds. It is a collection of half-truths and outright lies: The financial meltdown was the result of too many people pursuing the American Dream of home ownership.

Gretchen Morgenson: Banks Bilking Taxpayers By Refusing To Buy Back Toxic Loans They Sold To Fannie And Freddie

New York Times | GRETCHEN MORGENSON | Posted 05.25.2011

From the earliest days of the credit crisis, the nation's big financial institutions have been less than forthcoming about ballooning loan losses buri...

George Soros: Fannie, Freddie Shouldn't Finance Mortgages, Bond Market Should Lend Directly To Homeowners

GEORGE SOROS | Posted 05.25.2011

With the private sector largely incapacitated, the GSEs and FHA became virtually the only source of mortgage financing. This is a paradoxical situatio...

Obama Admin Too Busy To Deal With Fannie, Freddie, Says Assistant Treasury Secretary

washingtonpost.com | Zachary A. Goldfarb | Posted 05.25.2011

The Washington Post reports that according to Michael Barr, the assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions, the Treasury Department has b...

Barney Frank: Fannie, Freddie questions safety of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac investments

washingtonpost.com | Zachary A. Goldfarb | Posted 05.25.2011

Barney Frank, the Washington Post reports, "has unexpectedly called into question the safety of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, raising the s...

Fannie, Freddie: Obama Budget Mum On GSEs, Whose Future Remains Uncertain

CHARLES DUHIGG | Posted 05.25.2011

Fifteen months after Fannie and Freddie were effectively nationalized, neither the Obama administration nor Congressional leaders see a quick solution...

10 Questions The Financial Crisis Commission Must Ask

Eliot Spitzer | Posted 05.25.2011

Eliot Spitzer

The FCIC should enlist the financial industry as its research assistants. The industry should jump at the chance. The only way to reduce the frequency and damage of future crises is to find out what caused this one.

U.S. Treasury Strikes On Christmas Eve: Unlimited Taxpayer Support For Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac

Sheldon Filger | Posted 05.25.2011

Sheldon Filger

If, as Treasury originally claimed, $400 billion was more than sufficient to guarantee the security of Fannie and Freddie, why sneak in a new taxpayer commitment when nobody's looking?

Administration Increases Fannie/Freddie Support

AP | J.W. ELPHINSTONE | Posted 05.25.2011

NEW YORK — The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department said Thurs...

Skewed Recovery

Max Fraad Wolff | Posted 05.25.2011

Max Fraad Wolff

Angry masses see the recession as purely financial. This is false. Policy makers have rushed to address the financial crisis. This is near sighted. We have addressed one of our afflictions and left the greater economic problems under-appreciated and unaddressed.

Landmark Decision Promises Massive Relief for Homeowners and Trouble for Banks

Ellen Brown | Posted 05.25.2011

Ellen Brown

60 million mortgages with fatal defects in title could give aggrieved homeowners and securities holders the crowbar they need to exert some serious leverage on Congress.